Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Most of my coaches, particularly football coaches growing up, would not be allowed to coach in today's society for what they did to us growing up.
[00:00:17] And nothing illegal or immoral, but just the way they coached conditioning was torture.
[00:00:24] And they spoke like men with authority, which today scares a lot of kids. They've never heard that before.
[00:00:32] I had one coach who had a metal whistle and football coach. And when he talked to you, if he was upset with you, the first thing he would do with that metal whistle is just whap you on the helmet with it.
[00:00:47] And you always had to make sure that you wore your helmet when he called you over. Cause if you took it off, sometimes he forgot you didn't have your helmet on and would whap you on the head with his metal whistle. There were no helicopter parents at our practice. They would have been asked to leave. It wouldn't have worked out well for them.
[00:01:05] But this fear, in a lot of ways of my coaches, led to a lot of good things.
[00:01:11] I respect them. I look back and admire them. Very thankful for their influence in my life.
[00:01:17] But I remember one game in particular, we were playing the Cornersville Bulldogs.
[00:01:23] Now, this was a team that every year we absolutely dominated.
[00:01:29] But this season they had Grady Holder, and we were in middle school. And so this was the middle school student who was a little more developed than everyone else, already, had a beard, and we were all very terrified of him.
[00:01:45] But our coach all week would tell us, we cannot let Grady beat us.
[00:01:50] We actually ran plays away from him.
[00:01:54] I think I had my best game offensively because I was scared to death of where he was on the field. And I would just run out of fear away from him.
[00:02:04] And I hated playing defense. And so all week long, I dreaded this game. And our coaches would just bark at us. We can't let him behind our secondary, which I played cornerback. And you can't let him outside of you. You can't let him behind you. And I think they add it quite often or I will kill you.
[00:02:27] And that helped me a lot.
[00:02:29] On one particular play, our linebacker missed a tackle. Normally very good. Our defensive end broke containment. That didn't happen a lot. I hated defense and I played cornerback. And I didn't have to do much that season, but. But on this play, I was going to have to do something, something I dreaded. I was going to have to tackle this massive human of a middle schooler as he broke around the end.
[00:02:56] And so him and I met at the sidelines, and I just closed my eyes and dove as hard as I could at his legs, just hoping something good would happen. We actually went on top of the first down marker, and during those days, there weren't a lot of pads on him that wasn't safe. And he landed on his. And I don't think he played the rest of the game. And so that helped us win.
[00:03:22] And so I got up thinking, what in the world just happened? Oh, he's laying there. I must have done something good.
[00:03:29] But that had nothing to do with skill.
[00:03:32] That actually had very little to do with bravery because I was scared to death of Grady.
[00:03:40] But I feared my coach more and I feared what would happen if I just kind of fell down and didn't want to tackle this guy. As Deion Sanders would say, made a business decision.
[00:03:54] I knew I didn't want to face my coach on the other sidelines.
[00:03:58] And the truth is, fear can lead to courage, depending on who you fear the most.
[00:04:08] And the Bible talks about a good fear fearing God, rightly, even a God who in Christ is for us, a good fear that is sanctified. And that's what we see in our passage here in Revelation 9:through 20, a vision of Christ that should cause us to tremble, but it is for the purpose of sanctification for his church.
[00:04:36] Notice verse 9. We see this sanctifying vision of Christ.
[00:04:42] John, your partner in the gospel, your brother, he's writing to these seven churches that we're going to begin talking about next week. And notice in the tribulation, the church at this time is enduring harsh persecution under the Roman Empire.
[00:05:00] And what John is saying is we are part of this kingdom that is inviting backlash from the harshest government known to man, the Romans.
[00:05:11] And the church is scared. They're fearful. Should we press forward? John says, I'm your brother. I'm your partner in the tribulation. We're in this together.
[00:05:22] And notice, he says, the patient endurance. We're going to have to bear with this tribulation, going to have to bear with this persecution that are in Jesus. If you align with Jesus, you will endure persecution. And here we see John is on the island of Patmos because of his testimony for preaching the word of God, for unpacking his testimony that he saw Jesus, the Word made flesh. He saw him. And now he has been sent to this island to work in the mines until he dies.
[00:06:00] And the church is enduring similar persecution all over the place. And the book of Revelation is written to say, jesus is Lord, keep witnessing.
[00:06:10] And so notice verse 10. John says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. This is the day the church gathered to worship. And John here, even in exile, is practicing Lord's Day worship, reading the Bible, praying.
[00:06:30] And then there's a hint of prophetic call here when he says he's in the spirit. We're to think of prophets like Ezekiel and Daniel, Isaiah, who undergo such prophetic calling, where the Spirit of God comes on them in an unusual way.
[00:06:46] And when this happens to John, he sees something.
[00:06:51] He's not having a dream, he's not thinking certain ways.
[00:06:56] The Spirit of God reveals something before him, shows him something.
[00:07:02] But first, notice he hears a voice. Notice a voice, like a trumpet. So he hears a voice, but it's like a trumpet.
[00:07:12] And the point is, there is one present who is like a king, but his voice is like the announcement of a king. So when he speaks, there is the announcement that a king is present. This is what trumpets do.
[00:07:28] We, even in first and second Thessalonians, are mindful that at the second coming of Christ, there will be a loud trumpet.
[00:07:37] And so there's an illusion here that this is Christ. His voice is like the second coming. His voice is the coming of the coming king.
[00:07:46] And notice verse 11.
[00:07:48] This voice tells him to write what he sees in a book and send it to these seven churches. That again, we're going to begin talking about next week. But he's commissioned on behalf of this king, speaking to him, to write to witness to these seven churches so that they would endure the persecution that has come upon them. And notice verse 12, what he does. Then I turn to see the voice. Think about that. It's a voice, but it's a person.
[00:08:18] He turns to see the voice. He maybe in him, he knows this is someone. A familiar voice sounds different, amplified.
[00:08:32] He turns to see the voice that was speaking to me. And again, this isn't a dream. This is a vision. This is an image that we're going to see of Christ that will stand before John. But notice what he sees. And on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. And this imagery takes us back to the tabernacle, back to the temple where lampstands were set up in the holy place of God, where the priests work so they could see what they did.
[00:09:03] But also it symbolized life and light in the presence of God. These lampstands symbolize the presence of God. The lampstands referred to here is the menorah that we may be familiar of. And it looks like a tree, and it symbolizes life in the presence of God, just like in the garden, in the Presence of God, there is life and light.
[00:09:29] And so he sees a person, a voice speaking from the presence of God.
[00:09:36] And notice he begins to describe this person. Verse 13.
[00:09:40] In the midst of the lampstands was one like the son of Man. And if you've listened to the scripture we've read today, you've heard from Daniel, this one who is the Son of man, the Son of God, who is a king, who will come and rule in the book of Daniel. This, the Son of Man becomes the central figure in human history.
[00:10:01] Among all the kingdoms of the earth, there is one who will come and crush all other kingdoms and will rule forever. That is the Son of Man.
[00:10:10] And here John says, I see one who looks like this king.
[00:10:17] And we know from Jesus's teaching that over and over he called himself the Son of Man. So here he sees Jesus standing in the presence of God as a king. But not just as a king, notice, clothed with a long robe and a golden sash around his chest. Not only does he look like the king of kings, he's dressed as a priest.
[00:10:42] This is the garb of a royal priest, a high priest in the presence of God.
[00:10:49] So he sees Jesus as a cosmic king and the highest of high priests in the presence of God.
[00:11:00] Now think about this.
[00:11:02] John saw Jesus in flesh and blood a lot.
[00:11:07] He brags about it a lot. It's his thing.
[00:11:11] I saw firsthand, saw him turn water into wine, saw him feed the 5,000, saw him speak in calm, raging water, saw him heal the sick, raise Lazarus from the dead.
[00:11:28] John, of all the other disciples, can say, I saw him crucified.
[00:11:33] The blood of Christ splattered before him. I saw it.
[00:11:38] And I saw him raised from the dead, resurrected after he was raised from the dead. I saw him in flesh and blood, eating fish.
[00:11:48] He's seeing Jesus a lot, but never has he seen him in this way.
[00:11:53] And the Spirit of God is giving him this vision of Christ.
[00:11:59] Now, this isn't what Jesus looks like right now.
[00:12:06] He is resurrected. Flesh and blood, glorified flesh and blood.
[00:12:12] But the Spirit of God is giving him this vision of Christ to declare who he is and what he is.
[00:12:19] The one you saw in flesh and blood. He's back from the dead. And this is who he is now. This is what he is now.
[00:12:28] These are all the attributes of Jesus that he possesses now. And I need you to see that as you suffer.
[00:12:36] This is sort of a souped up high priest, one that would take your breath away. I've seen high priest, but not like this. Not a royal King, High Priest. This is like when your superheroes kind of get upgraded in the figurines. And then they have weapons they didn't have before.
[00:12:55] This is kind of like when Gandalf comes back, Gandalf the Gray. And then he's Gandalf the White.
[00:13:01] He wants him to see something he's always had, but now he can display.
[00:13:07] This is who he is, who he was. But I want you to feel. I want you to feel it now as you suffer.
[00:13:16] And what is Jesus?
[00:13:19] First of all, we see that he is pure eternal wisdom.
[00:13:22] This vision of Jesus declares he is pure, eternal wisdom. Notice verse 14.
[00:13:28] The hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow.
[00:13:33] Now, we read in the Old Testament, this is a description of the ancient of days, one who is eternally existent. And we see in Daniel one who will judge the universe, the eternal judge, the final judge of all things. The white is symbolic of wisdom, but also eternality and pure wisdom.
[00:14:00] So the Spirit of God gives John a vision of Jesus.
[00:14:04] What is Jesus? He's pure eternal wisdom. But notice he's also the pure eyes of God.
[00:14:11] Notice his eyes were like a flame of fire. This means that he sees all things.
[00:14:19] He sees.
[00:14:21] He's the eyes of God. He sees all things, but he's the pure eyes of God.
[00:14:26] And the pure eyes of God burn all impurity.
[00:14:30] So not only can he see through you and know everything about you, he burns the impurity with his eyes. This is who Jesus is, the Son of man.
[00:14:42] Notice he is immovable.
[00:14:45] He's God's immovable king. Notice verse 15.
[00:14:49] His feet. This is symbolic of stability or security, were like burnished bronze. And often bronze symbolizes righteousness or moral purity. But we see that this righteousness is refined in a furnace. And we think back to Daniel. We think about the fiery furnace and this Son of Man that comes and crushes all other kingdoms and is this immovable kingdom on the planet. He's been made solid in the fire of suffering.
[00:15:21] This is the resurrected Christ who suffered and now stands as God's immovable, righteous king.
[00:15:29] He is God's roaring word.
[00:15:33] Notice. And his voice was like the roar of many waters.
[00:15:37] Singing about this this week. And it's not a shriek that hurts your ears.
[00:15:44] It is an overwhelming sound. When Jesus speaks.
[00:15:49] When God speaks, it's like the ocean. When you're at the ocean and you hear the waves in the background, you're trying to talk and you can't hear, it's there. It's not a shriek. It's not necessarily annoying. At some point it can be soothing. It's an overwhelming word.
[00:16:08] And so Jesus is God's word that overwhelms all other words. He is the only word that matters.
[00:16:16] He's God's sovereign hand. Notice verse 16. In his right hand he held seven stars.
[00:16:21] Now in the Roman world they often use stars and galaxies symbolically to say the stars, the galaxies, they control what we know. That's where the gods are.
[00:16:35] Here there's a picture of Jesus who says, I'm above even the stars and galaxies. I hold them with power and authority. And in my right hand He's God's sovereign hand.
[00:16:46] He's God's sword of justice. Notice. From his mouth came a sharp two edged sword. And we read in Hebrews 4:12 that the word of God is living and active. It's sharper than any two edged sword and it pierces to the deepest parts of who we are to judge the thoughts and intents of our heart.
[00:17:05] Jesus is the one who judges the deepest parts of who you are, what nobody else knows, your thoughts and your desires. He's God's sword of judgment and justice.
[00:17:19] And then he's the presence of God's glory. Notice. And his face, face always represents presence of someone.
[00:17:27] And when God looks upon you with his face, it's with favor. But notice the face of Jesus is described here being like the sun shining in full strength.
[00:17:40] And so when I got a glimpse of his face, it was so overwhelming. It was like the sun shining in all of its fullness.
[00:17:51] You can see, but it's also overwhelming. It'll burn your eyeballs.
[00:17:57] He's the face of God that's overwhelming. Moses said, you can't see the face of God and live.
[00:18:04] And then Paul tells us that we've seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus.
[00:18:09] He's the presence of God's glory.
[00:18:12] He wants John to understand who Jesus is.
[00:18:16] The one who is raised from the dead, the one you worship, the one you are witnessing. You gotta understand who he is.
[00:18:23] And so the spirit gives him this vision. And this imagery is to invoke an emotion of fear, dread and awe.
[00:18:33] And all the description here is of judgment.
[00:18:38] He is the eternal wisdom by which every human will be judged. He's the eyes of God who will expose all the hidden things of man. He is the immovable kingdom who will crush all other kingdoms. He is the sword that will lay us open and bare before God. He is the roaring word that will flow, flood and drown out all other words and judgment. He is the sovereign Hand of God who controls the galaxies and will bring all history to its consummation where all men stand before him. He is the glory of God into which every man will have to look and apart from the gospel will be destroyed and anat suffer forever.
[00:19:25] Annihilationism is heresy. And I almost said that you will suffer, you will not be annihilated.
[00:19:34] And the point here is, John, if you think Rome is dreadful, you should see Jesus for who he really is.
[00:19:46] We got to get that right.
[00:19:49] You, you will not worship a Jesus that you would not tremble before.
[00:19:56] You will not witness a Jesus you don't rightly tremble before in worship.
[00:20:03] This vision is given so in moments of intimidation you would see Jesus and others rightly.
[00:20:17] He wants John to see Jesus rightly, so he understands the Roman government rightly. And he would say, you have nothing to fear in Rome if you've seen Jesus.
[00:20:27] The spirit opens up his eyes to Jesus as a former corpse blazing in glory with hands and feet that will crush and destroy his enemies.
[00:20:37] And you've got to have that vision of Jesus if you want to share the gospel with other people because you get scared.
[00:20:45] I get scared, I get intimidated, I make excuses.
[00:20:52] And here what Jesus wants us to see.
[00:20:55] When you're talking to that friend, you're talking to that person on campus, you're talking to that family member and you begin to come up with all of those unrealistic excuses. What are they going to think of me? This is going to be awkward.
[00:21:09] We begin to think they might punch me in the face. That never rarely happens in our context.
[00:21:15] We begin to dread the most awful things and we get scared.
[00:21:20] And we're to remember that we're standing before mortals made of dirt.
[00:21:26] And there is a cosmic priestly king who is glorious, who holds the life of all men in his hands. Who what can man do to you? Matthew would say, well, he can kill your body, but he cannot destroy your soul in hell. Here's the one who will destroy your soul in hell. Who are you going to fear as you stand before men?
[00:21:51] And this is freeing if you would just by the spirit of God. This is spirit filled courage. When you stand before other people to look at them and say, this is an image bearer, but they're flesh and blood, what can they do to me? And remember who Jesus is. Remember this vision of Jesus as you decide to share the gospel this week.
[00:22:13] As you make the decision, am I going to speak?
[00:22:17] Am I going to share? Am I going to be direct and clear this week? Ask someone, do they have Any spiritual beliefs?
[00:22:26] People are talking about all the things going on. Don't ask them, what do you think about all the things going on? I did that this week and it didn't go well because the person in front of me talked for 15 minutes. And how do you get to share anything about Jesus?
[00:22:40] But I okay, all the things going on.
[00:22:44] Hey, do you have any spiritual beliefs to you? Who is Jesus?
[00:22:49] And the moment you go, my pastor told me to do this, I probably need to do this. Right now I'm in the break room and I have a perfect opportunity and you get scared and you say, oh, I don't have time.
[00:23:00] Remember who Jesus is.
[00:23:02] Think about this. You don't have anything to fear, anything to be scared of. What can they do to you?
[00:23:09] This is a Jesus worthy of worship and he is worth it. Speak, Share the gospel this week.
[00:23:16] Don't give up when you're scared. Push forward with this vision of Jesus. But then we see Jesus. This vision of Jesus frees us from our worst fears. Notice when I saw him, I fell at his feet and as though dead, fainted, passed out, thought he was dead.
[00:23:36] Could have even lost consciousness here. And by the way, that's the proper response to Jesus, who is being revealed in this way.
[00:23:47] You don't walk up to him at this point, put your arm around him, say, hey, buddy, missed you.
[00:23:53] No, he falls on his face as though dead. But notice what Jesus does.
[00:23:59] He laid his right hand on me. So think about this. The right hand controls the galaxies.
[00:24:06] We should tremble before.
[00:24:08] And he reaches down and comforts him.
[00:24:11] What a beautiful picture of Jesus controls all things and then brings comfort to our fearful souls and lives.
[00:24:23] And notice, he says, fear not. It's a command. It says, stop being scared.
[00:24:28] Now notice this. He doesn't say, stop being scared of me.
[00:24:33] That doesn't make any sense. It's very generic. Just stop being scared. And I think what he's saying here is, stop being scared of everything but me.
[00:24:45] Stop being scared of everything but me. Why? I am the first and the last.
[00:24:49] We talked about this last week. I created everything. I control everything.
[00:24:55] I will consummate all reality. Nothing is beyond my scope of control. John, stop being scared of everything but me.
[00:25:05] I'm the one in charge here, Notice. And the living one, alive.
[00:25:13] And there's a point here that he's always been alive.
[00:25:19] He's eternal. But then he died in flesh and blood. And behold, I'm alive forevermore.
[00:25:27] Why was Jesus raised from the dead? Because he was sinless. He's pointing to his sinless payment in death.
[00:25:34] And that's why he says, I have the keys of death and Hades.
[00:25:38] Keys mean authority and power. I'm the one that calls the shots now over death and hell.
[00:25:47] And I've released you from bondage in my death. So what do you have to fear, John?
[00:25:54] Why are you scared of everything but me, the one who shakes death and hell's keys in the face of Satan?
[00:26:06] Why would you be scared of anything but me? Why would you?
[00:26:10] Why would anything scare you?
[00:26:12] And the point is, a Jesus that doesn't scare us is no good. When things get scary, this whole Jesus as your buddy and your boyfriend and your life coach and your therapist who's just in awe of you is absolutely terrifying because he's terrifyingly weak.
[00:26:35] And that's why a lot of Christians don't have a lot of confidence and hope, because they wanted Jesus like them.
[00:26:41] Listen, if I'm going into a fight, which I do that a lot, I'm not picking friends who are weak and unimpressive, right?
[00:26:58] I'm not.
[00:26:59] Not the guy who walks up and I go, this guy? Really?
[00:27:03] You want me to go into a brawl again? I do that a lot with this guy.
[00:27:08] No, I'm finding people who scare me. Their physical strength scares me. And I would never mess with them. That's kind of the point being proven here.
[00:27:19] Jesus holds the keys of death and hell in his hand and he's for you. Why would you be scared?
[00:27:29] Why would you not run to the battle you see here?
[00:27:34] Your worst case ruminations are short circuited.
[00:27:38] Let me clarify what we do. Every one of us, we ruminate on the worst case scenario. At least I do, and I do it a lot.
[00:27:49] What is the worst thing that could happen?
[00:27:52] What is the worst thing that could happen when I get worried? Okay, this is what worry looks like. Let me trace this out to the worst thing that could happen.
[00:28:01] Could lose everything, right?
[00:28:04] It could end horrible. And it never happens that way, by the way. That's how we act.
[00:28:10] Well, this Jesus short circuits all of that.
[00:28:15] So when you start running down that hill of worry, you should stop and you go, okay, let's do the worst case scenario, death and hell.
[00:28:26] The worst case is no more for the Christian.
[00:28:30] Jesus has been raised from the dead. He's defeated sin and death. Your worst case is no more. So you stop and what do you do? You worship.
[00:28:42] Worst case scenario worry is to lead you to worship. That is God allowing that to happen so that you would turn from that worry and worship that that worry should lead you to worship. I'm headed down the hill. Oh, stop.
[00:28:59] All of these things going on right now that are causing me to worry are to remind me to worship Jesus, because the worst case can't happen. So I stop and I turn around and I go, oh, this could happen to my kids. This is the. This could happen to our finances. This could happen to our church. This is going to happen in the future. Stop. Remember, the worst case is no more for you. Worship Jesus. He's standing there with the keys of death and hell in his hand. Worship him. And that's to lead you away from worry.
[00:29:30] We're to run from worry to worship of Jesus.
[00:29:34] And it's a Jesus that we do tremble before.
[00:29:39] That apart from the gospel we would be scared of. That means when life is at its scariest, you have nothing to be scared of.
[00:29:49] So worship. That is to lead you to worship.
[00:29:53] And notice this Jesus frees us from sin.
[00:29:57] He says, write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place. And so often in Revelation, you've got to understand that the persecution is happening now. It's going to continue to happen. It might intensify. It's just going to keep happening. So there's going to be a lot of bad things that happen on the planet, and I want you to write those down. But before the church sees those things, they need to see who I am, this terrifying judge of all men. They need to know who they worship and who they witness in the last days.
[00:30:35] And then he explains, as for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, this place of power and control and the seven golden lampstands, Remember we said that's the presence of God.
[00:30:46] The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And there's a lot of interpretations about what this means. Some people believe it's the pastors of these churches that he's going to write to, or just messengers. I don't believe you can really know what he's talking about here, except that these churches are connected to heaven through the presence of God in the Spirit.
[00:31:09] And notice in the seven lampstands are the seven churches. You can know what those are. He's very clear that these are the churches. And what's he saying here?
[00:31:20] The church is the presence of God in the world.
[00:31:24] The church is represented, we talked about last week, by the Spirit of God in the presence of God in. In heaven. But this is the light of God in the world. These are the churches in the world. These seven churches that represent all churches.
[00:31:39] And what is the point here?
[00:31:41] Well, Jesus, this cosmic king, judge, is with his church as a priest. That's the point.
[00:31:50] Okay, the seven lampstands that he saw reminded him of the presence of God, the holy of holies. That's where the presence of God is. Jesus is amidst the lampstands. So what's he saying here?
[00:32:03] Jesus is in the middle of the churches. His presence is with the churches. But this is the vision of Jesus you're to have with the church. This cosmic priestly king who will judge.
[00:32:16] He's with the church. And what we're going to see beginning next week is his presence with the church is meant to purify the church.
[00:32:25] He's with the church. He's for the church. The gates of hell cannot prevail against the church.
[00:32:30] But as a priest, the same way the priests worked for the people of God, keeping the people pure with sacrifices. Jesus is working amidst the churches to keep us pure, to make us into a pure witness. What he's saying to these churches is you're going to endure more suffering and persecution, and you're going to have to witness through persecution.
[00:32:54] And there's some things we got to deal with some sin.
[00:32:58] See, a lot of us talk big about end times.
[00:33:02] A lot of us think we would do a lot of things if pressed to say Jesus is Lord and yet we won't repent of sin.
[00:33:13] Think about that. That's what we're going to talk about the next few weeks, the sin in the churches.
[00:33:18] And he says, before you can witness the gospel and endure persecution, I got to make you pure.
[00:33:25] You, you gotta repent of sin.
[00:33:28] Because the truth is the church will not be faithful if the church is full of sin.
[00:33:33] Because you're already declaring you don't believe Jesus is Lord. You don't believe he's king.
[00:33:38] You don't believe he's worthy. You don't believe he's worth it.
[00:33:42] So let's deal with the heart of the churches.
[00:33:44] And that's why he's with the churches, to make them pure so that they would be faithful. Judgment begins at the house of the Lord here.
[00:33:53] And so today you're here at a church, the presence of God.
[00:33:59] And the question is, do you fear the Christ that is unveiled in this passage?
[00:34:06] You are to tremble before that Christ.
[00:34:10] Yes, in worship, in adoration and hope.
[00:34:13] But he's terrifying.
[00:34:16] Do you tremble before him?
[00:34:21] Think about your sin.
[00:34:25] You're struggling with sin.
[00:34:27] Do you fear Jesus?
[00:34:32] Do you tremble before eternal wisdom?
[00:34:35] We are all people who Are making choices on our momentary desires. I do what I want to do right now, in this moment.
[00:34:46] I determine what is right and good.
[00:34:49] Oh, you better tremble before eternal wisdom.
[00:34:53] The one who's always existed and created all things. He's eternal pure wisdom, and you are to tremble before him. And as a fool who does what you want in the moment, you don't think about eternity, you don't think about his wisdom. Do you tremble before the blazing pure eyes of God?
[00:35:13] He knows what you do when you're alone.
[00:35:18] He knows what you delete.
[00:35:21] He knows your thoughts, he knows. Do you tremble before that reality as you make that choice to look at that, as you make that choice to think that?
[00:35:36] Do you tremble before a God who knows it?
[00:35:39] You are before the blazing pure eyes of God. Do you tremble? Do you tremble before the immovable king?
[00:35:45] We scheme and we make plans that are apart from his kingdom. And we say, I'm going to do it my way and I'm going to build my kingdoms. His kingdom is immovable. Do you tremble before him?
[00:35:57] Do you tremble before God's sword, the word of God?
[00:36:02] I envision myself this way so often before the word of God which is described here as a sharp two edged sword.
[00:36:10] And God by the Spirit of God comes with that sharp two edged sword to do surgery on my heart so often with rebuke and correction. And what I do is I try to grab the sword and you know what happens?
[00:36:23] Sliced and diced.
[00:36:26] I'm miserable when I bow up against God's word.
[00:36:30] What you are to do is tremble before it, the one who lays us bare.
[00:36:35] Do you tremble before God's sword?
[00:36:38] Do you bow before the roaring word as people who are full of meaningless noise that comes out of our mouth constantly do? Do you tremble before the reality that God will wash away every meaningless word and judge them all?
[00:36:55] Do you tremble before that reality?
[00:37:00] Do you tremble before the sovereign hand of God?
[00:37:04] We think we're in control, we act as though we're in control.
[00:37:08] We act as though we can determine our futures.
[00:37:13] Oh, the sovereign hand of God who controls the galaxies.
[00:37:18] Do you tremble before that reality and say what sin? That I wouldn't trust you, that I would be angry trying to control people and others, that I would worry thinking it would control my life.
[00:37:34] Why would I not bow before him trembling in surrender? Do you tremble before the glory of the face of God?
[00:37:43] Do you realize who you're dealing with?
[00:37:48] We've seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?
[00:37:52] You tremble before that reality as you Are distracted and enticed to focus on so many other things and give your attention to so many other things. Would you tremble before Christ, who is the blazing glory of God before you?
[00:38:10] Do you tremble before Christ? Think about that sin.
[00:38:16] Think about those moments of decision.
[00:38:18] Would you just stop and worship?
[00:38:22] Which means stop and tremble before God who sees and knows it all, the sovereign judge of the universe, who has been revealed to us as the glory of God in flesh. Would you tremble before him?
[00:38:39] Fear can be sanctified.
[00:38:42] Fear can be sanctified.
[00:38:45] And here's the good news.
[00:38:47] This king went to a cross and died for your sin.
[00:38:54] This priest was a lamb who was slain.
[00:38:57] Who. When you believe in him, you're covered with his blood.
[00:39:01] And the writer of Hebrews says you should fear him. He is a consuming fire.
[00:39:07] But you can boldly approach him because it's a throne of grace.
[00:39:12] You know that doesn't mean you walk into God's presence cavalier.
[00:39:18] You do walk into his presence confident.
[00:39:22] You walk into his presence understanding that yes, he's eternal wisdom. But you know what?
[00:39:27] Eternal wisdom became a fool and died for your sins.
[00:39:31] He was treated as a fool. He lost on the cross so that you could draw near and become wise and stand before the Alpha and Omega and worship him.
[00:39:42] I'm so simple minded.
[00:39:45] Eternal wisdom and you are transformed by it.
[00:39:48] This is how fear that should be terrifying is purifying. And worship you today can come before the eyes of God.
[00:40:00] Why?
[00:40:01] Because the one who was pure became impure on the cross to cleanse you of your sin.
[00:40:07] The wrath of God consumed him so you could come before him today and just admit it.
[00:40:15] Just come clean.
[00:40:17] You already know it. Jesus. You. You died for it. You see it. This is true of me.
[00:40:23] And I claim your blood and you are made clean.
[00:40:30] The immovable king was crushed under the feet of death for a moment.
[00:40:37] So you come before him and you joyfully surrender your hopes and dreams in worship. You come in here today and you're not even thinking about Jesus. You're thinking about tomorrow. You're thinking about all the things you'll do this week. And you come in here and worship because he invites you to. He's made it possible for you to stand before him in trembling and have your hopes and dreams that are apart from him crushed. But you do so in worship.
[00:40:58] You exalt him as the immovable king.
[00:41:01] You can come before the sword of God today and be pierced.
[00:41:05] Stop kicking, crawl up on the altar and surrender and let him do surgery on your heart in worship.
[00:41:15] Oh, the word of God pierces.
[00:41:19] It's painful and it's dreadful, but it is good.
[00:41:23] It is good and I need the surgery. And so you come before him in worship.
[00:41:29] You come to surrender to the sovereign hand of God. Because he, the sovereign hand, became weak and helpless. And he was the one who was pierced through for you.
[00:41:41] And you come before him to surrender your control today. You do that in worship, right?
[00:41:47] You worship him as the immovable king and it purges you of your control issues.
[00:41:53] The roaring Word was silenced so you could come before him and be still, in silence and know that he is God and the Father's face turned from Him.
[00:42:08] The blazing face of favor of God.
[00:42:13] The only one who is worthy of his favor and attention is the Son.
[00:42:22] And he turned from the One who is worthy to look upon you, who is unworthy, as the Son was forsaken for you, so you could come before him today and behold Him. We sang the song Behold him so that you could stare into the face of the glory of God and not be consumed, but to be transformed.
[00:42:44] And so in worship, we come before him and we behold his glory.
[00:42:50] And the more we behold him, we become like Him. We're purified.
[00:42:55] If we would worship him, what is terrifying in judgment is purifying in worship. For those who know Jesus.
[00:43:03] Would you worship him today?
[00:43:06] Would you worship eternal wisdom?
[00:43:09] Whatever your plans are, whatever your thoughts, desires are, come before eternal wisdom. The eyes of God, this immovable king, this sword of God, the sovereign hand of God, the roaring Word of God, the face of God.
[00:43:24] Would you worship him today?
[00:43:27] Whatever sin and struggle you have, think about those attributes and worship him in light of that today. It's purifying.
[00:43:36] Fear can be sanctified depending on who you fear the most.
[00:43:41] Let's pray.
