Jesus Unveiled

Let me just pray for us together.

It's part of what we call a pastoral prayer.

The idea isn't that I just pray and you just check out,

but actually that we pray together for our church,

for the city, and for what God is doing.

So if you just pray with me now.

Loving, sovereign, gracious Father,

we want to thank you that your perfect love casts out all fear.

Lord, we come before you and sometimes we're confused.

Sometimes we doubt.

Sometimes we wonder where you are in the midst of such perplexing times.

Sometimes we don't know how to respond.

And yet you tell us that you are the everlasting God

who does not grow tired or weary,

who watches over us,

who knows every hair on the head or on our heads.

You know everything.

And you are the one who sees through the moments in our lives

with the wide-angle lens of eternity.

Lord, our worries and fears are so temporary,

and yet you are eternal.

Help us to see you like that.

Thank you that you hold us in your loving arms.

Help us not to just kind of know the right doctrines in our heads,

but in our lives, whatever's going on in our city, in our families.

Lord, I pray that you'd help the truth of who you are

to go deep into our hearts and our souls, Lord.

That we'd have this deep, unshakable confidence in you.

And Father, forgive us where we look at the circumstances of our lives

through the lens of our own human understanding.

Forgive us where we fear because we've forgotten who you are.

Forgive us where we try to control our own little worlds

so that we don't have to completely depend on you, Lord.

I pray.

Open our eyes to see you this morning.

And Lord, we just want to keep praying for our city at this time.

And we pray, Lord, particularly for the church in this city.

We pray, Lord, unite your church.

Bring peace to this city.

Don't let the enemy bring division and bitterness and hatred into our hearts.

Let us have the courage and wisdom to know how to listen well to others.

How not to get sucked into anger, but to forgive and to bless and to love

and to seek opportunities to share you and be light across this city.

We need you to do that, Father, in us.

Because it's so hard to respond the way you want us to respond.

Please, we need you.

We need you.

Give us your grace, I pray.

Father, we also want to keep praying for our kids and our youth

as they're going back to school in this season.

Father, we know these are challenging times to be young.

And we pray, Lord, that we would not just see our kids and our youth as the next generation,

but actually see them as this generation that you can use for your kingdom,

that you want to draw to yourself and want to use, Lord, mightily in their schools

and with the people around them, Lord.

Father, we pray, bring them to yourself.

Bring them to yourself so that they would have this sense of identity,

not in their grades, not in how great their GPA is,

but their sense of value and significance only in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, would you give them courage to not be ashamed in their schools to stand up for you?

Would you use them, we pray.

And, Lord, we want to pray, Father, for the parents in Watermark.

Lord, it is one of the hardest jobs.

It is an impossible job unless you are the one who gives us the grace.

And so I pray, teach the parents here to know how to disciple their kids well.

Give them grace in the challenges.

Help them not to live under the guilt of feeling like they've failed in so many ways,

but let them rest in your unshakable kindness.

And out of that, would they parent kids not just for outward behavior change

or just to get great grades,

but would you help us to know how to shepherd their hearts,

to know you, to love you, to live for you in all of their lives.

And, Father, we pray for us even as we start on this Revelation series.

We pray for our hearts, Lord.

We pray that you would speak to us.

We pray against the enemy trying to distract us

or trying to cause us to turn away from you or to get fearful.

But, Lord, I pray, open our eyes to see you afresh.

And we pray this in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.

The scripture reading today comes from Revelation chapter 1.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

Please follow along in your bulletins or on the screen.

The revelation of Jesus Christ,

which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.

He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ,

even to all that he saw.

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.

John to the seven churches that are in Asia.

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come,

and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness,

the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

and made us a kingdom, a priest to his God and Father,

to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

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.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God,

who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom

and the patient endurance that are in Jesus,

was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God

and the testimony of Jesus.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day,

and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying,

write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches,

to Ephesus, to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Theatrera, and to Sardis,

and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me,

and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,

and in the midst of the lampstands was one like the son of man,

clothed with a long robe, with a golden sash around his chest.

The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow,

and his eyes were like the flame of a fire.

His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace,

and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

In his right hand he held seven stars.

From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword,

and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead,

but he laid his right hand on me, saying,

Fear not, for I am the first and the last, and the living one.

I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore,

and I have the keys of death and Hades.

Write, therefore, these things that you have seen,

those that are, and those that are to take place after this.

As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand,

and the seven golden lampstands,

the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches,

and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

This is the word of God.

Great. Thank you, Jesse and Frankie.

Welcome again to Watermark.

If you don't know me, my name's Chris.

I'm one of the leaders here.

And we're starting on our series in Revelation.

And I'm really excited about this series.

In fact, I'm really, we would say in England, gutted,

which means very disappointed that I'm not going to be around for a lot of the series,

because this is one of my favorite books.

And I think God is going to do something really significant in us through this series.

And I think this is something which I think many of us,

if you're honest, and I say the word revelation,

you have a whole load of stuff that comes into your mind.

Because quite frankly, revelation is weird, right?

I mean, it's weird and it's scary,

because you've got kind of dragons and you've got like locusts and you've got monsters.

It feels a bit like Harry Potter meets Lord of the Rings.

A whole load of stuff.

And to me, actually, as a Westerner, it's a little bit like Chinese opera.

Because, you know, I look at it, bits of it look familiar,

but I just don't get what on earth's going on.

And I need someone to help and guide me in what it is.

And this is the kind of book that's just got so many different interpretations.

I mean, Revelation is the book for people who are conspiracy theorists.

Okay?

So, I just heard recently,

someone said to me that Donald Trump is the beast.

And the reason their logic went like this,

they said, well, Donald Trump,

they own a property which is at 666 Fifth Avenue,

and he came to power in 2016.

Which, if you put 666 plus 666 plus 6 plus 6 plus 6,

together it makes 2016.

I did the calculations.

And over time, it's not just Donald Trump.

I have heard, like, almost every U.S. president there's been.

Stalin, Mao, King John Il, the European Union,

and I have even heard, this is my favorite for the beast,

the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

But we're not going to be talking about Donatello very much in this series.

And so what I want to do this morning is to actually spend some time introducing the book to you,

because this book isn't a book written for crazy conspiracy theories.

This book is about life and death.

It's got a message that God wants to speak to us.

You see, it's a bit like this.

When Fiona and I took a wedding in Kosomui a few years ago,

and we went out sea kayaking.

And halfway through, our boat just capsized and overturned in the water.

And we found ourselves being pulled out to the sea by the current of the waves.

And it was a scary moment.

And we looked over, and we could see the shore.

And at that moment, I could see my flip-flops going, my sun creaking.

Everything was floating out to the sea.

And we grabbed onto the boat, and we just started swimming.

We saw the shore, and we just started swimming as hard as we could to get to the shore.

And we made it, because that's why I'm here today.

Otherwise, I'd be out somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

But I don't know if you've ever been swimming in the sea.

And after a while, you suddenly kind of look up, and you realize that you've just got dragged out far further away from the shore than you realized.

Isn't that a scary moment?

And this is a little bit of what the book of Revelation is about.

Because the book of Revelation is trying to give you a wake-up call to say, it's trying to show you, that's where the shoreline is.

That's where the kingdom of God, that's where Jesus is.

But actually, we're in a culture which has a tide of idolatry, which wants to pull you and drag you further and further away from God.

And you've got to see both the danger that there is in being dragged out, but also the beauty that there is towards the shore.

So it encourages you to keep swimming towards that shore.

That is what Revelation is about.

Because it says, no matter how difficult it is to swim against the tide, Jesus is with you and he's overcome.

That's some of the message of Revelation.

And so the book starts with this.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place.

And so here's a few things about what this book is.

First of all, Revelation is a revelation.

Now the word revelation in Greek means apocalypse.

That's what the word is.

But apocalypse doesn't mean like end of the world.

Apocalypse means like an unveiling, a revealing.

It's a bit like when you pull back the curtain and you see like on the stage, you see like what's behind the stage, what's behind the scenes.

Or it's like if you kind of walk, you just walk into your home and someone's been cooking and you smell something and you're not sure what it is.

So you go to the saucepan and you lift the lid and you're like, oh, now I see what it is.

That is what Revelation is about.

It's an unveiling.

But what is it unveiling?

What is it revealing?

It's revealing behind the current events that are going on in the first century, there's a spiritual reality behind them.

You see, this book is written to churches in Asia Minor, which is western Turkey.

Some of us were there just a few months ago.

And what you know at that time is the Roman Empire looks all powerful.

In fact, peace, wealth, job security, career advancement, public approval, all of it is determined by how in favor you are with the Roman authorities around you and the religious system that goes along with it.

So the Roman emperor at the time was a guy called Domitian.

And there should be a little picture of him.

Here we go.

Handsome looking guy.

But somebody said this, Domitian was a profoundly insecure man.

To compensate for his insecurity, he ordered all citizens as subjects of the Roman Empire to worship him as Lord and God.

All citizens were to go to a temple built in his honor, take a pinch of incense, throw it on the fire, and say, Caesar, kurios, Caesar is Lord.

This is the background.

And Asia Minor, where Revelation is written to, is the center of emperor worship in the whole of the Roman Empire.

And it's filled with both worship of the emperor and all kinds of pagan gods.

And everybody worships them except Christians and Jews.

You see, the pull of the current was very strong to just go along with what everyone else was doing.

And do you know in Revelation, there's a number of commands which are repeated.

The most common commands are this.

Behold.

That means see.

Look.

And then don't fear.

Behold.

Stop looking in the natural, just the power of Domitian and the emperor around you.

He thinks he's in control.

But you've got to see with spiritual eyes who's really in control.

Stop seeing human circumstances with your eyes.

See them with my eyes.

That's what Revelation is about.

Behold.

Do you see what's going on behind the scenes?

Do you see?

So, this is what apocalypse is.

Revelation is.

But how does an apocalypse work?

And this is called kind of apocalyptic literature.

So, Revelation is written in this style.

We don't use it any longer.

But it's really common in between 200 BC and 200 AD.

And it has tons of kind of imagery in it.

And why is it written with all this kind of imagery and things?

Well, John, who we think was probably the last apostle alive, he wrote this book.

And he could have gone, hey, Jesus wins.

Just hold on tight.

The end's coming.

Don't worry.

The end.

See you, John.

But he doesn't.

Why doesn't he?

Well, because advertisers know.

If you're trying to sell a Tesla, you don't, your advert doesn't just have a little talking

head of someone going, it's a good car.

You should buy it.

It's nice for the environment.

No, a Tesla, what they do, they show you this dramatic kind of inspirational music.

They show you these scenes of these cars gliding on impossible terrain.

And the power.

And you get this kind of visual feast.

And at the end of it, then they bring you just to the Tesla logo.

And by that point, you want to buy one.

Because the idea is what Revelation is doing, it's bringing you full cinematic special effects.

Because it wants to get to your emotions.

It wants to feed your imagination.

It wants to show you the beauty of the shore, but also the horror of getting pulled out to sea.

It's trying to shake you up.

That's what it's trying to do.

Because do you know that your choices and my choices are not driven out of what I think,

I just kind of believe in my head.

They're also driven about what has captured your heart, your imagination, and your soul.

And so John is trying to capture you.

And so how does he do this?

Okay.

Well, one of the things he does in this is he uses lots of symbols.

So I'm going to show you a picture.

This picture was, oh, no, this should be another one.

Yes, this one.

This was produced this year.

Can anyone tell me what's going on?

Who?

The guy on the left?

Versus?

Okay.

Now, obviously there's little flags on there, but you know instantly what's going on, right?

If you were to come to me and go, I didn't know that dragon's arm wrestled.

You'd look at me and you'd go, you've missed the point, right?

Because you know what the image means.

Now, that's what Revelation is doing.

There's all these images in it.

And most of them are taken from Old Testament imagery.

And the problem for many of us is actually our Old Testament is, you know, we're a little rusty on the Old Testament.

But actually, you know, there's 404 verses in Revelation.

About 280 or more of them have illusions to the Old Testament.

So it's using all these images.

So that's why if you get to things like plagues, it should remind you of Egypt and the Exodus.

Or you get to beasts and kingdoms and it should remind you of Daniel.

And all these kind of things in the first century context, John is applying the Old Testament into his context.

With these images, which everyone would get.

It's just we have to work a little bit harder because we're in a different context.

But this is how apocalyptic literature works.

We take the context and then we apply the image even into our context.

So that's symbols.

Another thing that apocalyptic literature does is numbers.

You know, I heard one guy arguing with a scientist that the earth can't be round because in Revelation 7,

it says the seven angels were standing at the four corners of the earth.

Do you see, he's missed the point.

It's meant to be talking about the whole earth.

But, you know, we use numbers, right, to mean things.

If I use number four in China, why has the lift not got the number four?

Because it stands for death, right?

Eight.

What does eight mean?

Prosperity.

Fortune.

Okay.

If my wife says to me, I've told you a thousand times, don't put the sponge in the sink.

Has she literally told me a thousand times?

Probably.

You get the point, right?

So this is what apocalyptics is doing.

And so the number seven you will see come up everywhere in this passage.

Seven is the number of completeness or wholeness because of the number of days in creation.

We've got completes creation.

So there are seven churches here.

Now they are seven real churches which met in houses,

often before sunrise on Sundays.

And they're all on the postal route.

If you can show the picture.

They're all on the Roman postal route.

They go around.

So the messenger would have just carried them around.

One church to the next.

But he uses the number seven though deliberately,

not just to say it's written to them,

but also this is a message for all of the church.

And so that means when John wrote this,

he didn't write it to us.

He didn't say, dear watermark.

But he did write it for us because the message is for our context as well.

So revelation is a revelation, an apocalypse.

It uses all this imagery.

Okay?

A couple more small things before we get on to it.

It's also a prophecy.

He says,

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the word of the prophecy.

Now when you hear prophecy,

many of us think prediction into the future.

Well, that's a small part of prophecy,

but most prophecy in the Bible is actually God just speaking into the context,

saying things like repent, don't fear.

Okay?

There's hope.

Be encouraged.

Okay?

Judgment is coming, so just turn to him.

That's what most prophecy is about.

And so if you're kind of seeing revelation just as like the Left Behind series

or anything like if any of you have ever watched any of those things,

you might have missed what John is actually trying to say here.

He's trying to speak to them and saying,

God wants to speak to you now.

Thus says the Lord.

So it's a revelation.

It's a prophecy.

But it's also a letter.

Someone would have come with a little scroll.

Revelation would have been on a scroll, by the way.

And they'd have opened it up.

And he would have said,

John, to the seven churches in Asia.

And then the book ends with,

The grace of Jesus be with you all.

It was a normal letter.

The whole book is a letter.

Written to real people in a real context in the first century

who were expected to understand it.

Okay?

So that's why he says,

Blessed are the ones who reads it aloud,

who hears it, people listening,

but especially who keep what is written in it.

They couldn't keep it if they didn't understand it.

Okay?

So if you think the beast is Barack Obama,

Donald Trump, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,

then clearly that's not what John has in mind

because none of them knew about the turtles in the first century.

Okay?

Okay?

It's not God's secret code.

It's meant to be understood

by all of us.

Now, this is just introduction.

Finally, I do have to say,

there are some things in this book,

and I've read this book quite a few times,

I still don't get,

and Kevin still won't get,

and that's okay.

There will be some bits in this book

that probably you may disagree with.

with the way that we share.

That's okay.

But don't lose sight of what John's message is.

If you, and you're going to,

in your CGs,

you're going to be spending some time in this book,

if you spend all your time in debates

about whether the locusts

are really U.S. Apache helicopters or not,

you'll have missed the whole point

of what John is trying to say to you.

The idea is to get you swimming,

keep swimming to Jesus,

keep trusting Him,

keep obeying Him,

keep loving Him,

keep repenting and relying on Him.

The book's message is actually the same

as the gospel message

throughout the whole of the rest of Scripture.

It's just written with special effects

to wake you up

so you don't fall asleep in the sermon.

Okay?

So, do you get that?

It's a revelation,

it's a prophecy,

it's a letter.

Shall we get into the book?

Great.

Let's get going.

Okay.

Verse 4.

Grace to you,

and peace from Him who is,

and who was,

and who is to come,

and from the seven spirits

who are before His throne,

and from Jesus Christ,

the faithful witness,

the firstborn of the dead,

and the ruler of kings on earth.

Who is this letter from?

It's from the Trinitarian God.

He says,

He who is and was and is to come,

that's a reference to Exodus,

where the Egyptian Pharaoh

seemed all-powerful.

Moses is to go to Him,

and Moses says,

Who do I say has sent you?

He says,

I am who I am.

God's saying,

I'm the eternal one.

Don't define me by any ruler

because I have existed

before anybody else.

And it says,

It's from Him.

And if I walk into Watermark this morning

with a letter saying,

Hey guys,

the eternal Father,

the Spirit of God,

which is what the seven spirits are,

and Jesus Christ,

who is the supreme one,

who is the one who testified to His Father

even unto death,

the firstborn one,

the supreme over death,

the one who is the head

over every chief executive,

every president,

every ruler,

He's got a message for you this morning.

Would you sit up and listen?

If He said,

I want to reveal to you

and show you behind the scenes

what's going on in your life right now,

would you sit up and listen?

Because God does have a message

for us this morning

through the book of Revelation.

And what He's going to say,

He's going to say

some incredible things,

but He starts off,

John,

with this fact

that God Himself

wants to speak to us.

That's mind-blowing.

He then goes into praise

and He goes,

Do you know what He's saying?

He's saying,

this God wants you little small churches,

before anything else,

He wants you to know

that He loves you.

Watermark,

that He loves us.

Did you get that?

That He loves us.

I mean,

that's just insane.

And His love

is not conditioned

by anything that's happening

in this city right now.

His love is not conditioned

by the circumstances

in your family right now.

It's not conditioned

by your health

or your job situation.

Do you want to know

how you know

the Trinitarian God loves you?

Because of the cross.

He says,

He freed us from our sins

by His blood.

You know,

I was speaking to a lady

just last week

and she came to me

and she said,

you know,

we've been trying to have a baby

for a year now

and we haven't been able

to conceive

and I'm not sure

whether God really loves me.

And I think John

would go to her,

I know it's hard.

But don't look

with human wisdom

in your circumstances here.

Behold,

see,

don't fear.

See the cross.

See,

my love is grounded

in the fact

that I've given

everything for you.

I shed my blood

to set you free,

to make you my people,

to make you a kingdom,

which means

you make you mine,

to make you my priest,

which means you have access

into my presence.

I've done everything

to bring you to myself,

to set you free

from shame

and sin

and fear.

Don't you know

that I love you?

And then he goes,

behold,

he's coming

on the clouds.

Jesus is coming.

And he doesn't just say,

Jesus will come.

He says,

no,

no,

no,

you've got to see

Jesus coming

as imminent,

as close,

as present,

because he wants

to shape

the way you view

your present circumstances

in the light of him.

And he says,

one day,

everyone who mocks

your faith,

who think it's just

wishful thinking,

this Jesus stuff,

one day they will see him

and the tribes

on the earth

will wail

on account of him

because they will be,

they will see him

on the shore

and they'll see

how far away

they were swept out

to see.

But can you see him?

Can you see his coming?

Why do they need

to hear this?

Let's go to verse 9.

I, John,

your brother and partner

in the tribulation

and kingdom

and patient endurance

that are in Jesus,

was on the isle of Patmos.

Well,

Patmos is just about

a few hours away

from the Turkish coastline.

But John is exiled there

because he's been

preaching the gospel.

Because he,

he's realized

this is not a popular message

at their time.

To say Jesus

as Lord and God

is to say

Emperor Domitian

is not.

And that doesn't

go down very well.

They say,

your gods

are actually false gods.

And the churches

are either facing

compromise

or persecution.

Either hide your faith,

blend in,

try and kind of go

with the flow

of the current

or stand up

and be prepared

that actually

it may cost you.

Just imagine

if you're a parent,

someone putting

a knife

to the throat

of your child

and telling you,

all you have to do

is deny Jesus

and just say

Caesar is Lord

and we'll let them go.

Can you feel the pain?

This is where

the Christianity

gets real.

Where,

when Jesus says,

if you acknowledge

me before men,

I will acknowledge you.

If you deny me

before men,

I will deny you.

And suddenly,

it feels so much

more real.

And it hasn't happened

to all the churches yet,

but just down the road

in Pergamum,

it has.

One of the guys

was just killed

not long ago

for their faith.

And John's saying

there's a cost

to following Jesus.

Is it worth it?

You know,

in Iraq,

in Syria,

in India,

in Somalia,

even in parts of China,

our brothers and sisters

are facing

the same kind of thing.

And we may not be

under death threat,

daily.

I think most of us,

that feels a little

distant for us

in Hong Kong.

But John would still say

we are a partner

in God's kingdom,

the shoreline,

in the hope,

but also a partner

in the tribulation,

in the suffering.

There is a cost.

This is kind of

the hard part.

You know,

for us,

maybe it's losing

a business deal.

Maybe it's losing

a guy that you

really like.

Maybe it's losing

a job

or losing

a friendship.

Maybe it's been

called intolerant

or bigoted

or homophobic

or something like that.

Following Jesus'

costs,

and the current

can seem strong,

but he wants to say,

Jesus is coming.

Can you see him?

Can you see him?

And so then,

John,

in the light of this

kind of hard

place,

what he does,

we're going to now see

John has

actually four visions.

The book is structured,

there's four visions there.

We're just going to look

at the first one.

So,

the first one

is a vision

of Jesus himself.

How are we doing?

Good.

you see,

John has this vision

and he hears

this voice behind him.

You see,

it's all kind of

cinematic.

I can't even say the word.

So,

he hears this voice

behind him

and he turns around

and he sees

seven golden lampstands,

which we know later on

are the churches

that he's writing to.

That's what they stand for.

And why are they lampstands?

Because the lampstands

were in the temple of God

in his presence

and they would burn.

So,

when you walked in,

it would have been dark

and you walk in

and you see

these lampstands

burning with candles

on them.

They are light

in the darkness.

That is what the churches

are supposed to be.

Light in the darkness

of the world around them.

And then what he sees,

he's saying,

these little tiny churches,

they're only 20,

30 people,

something like that,

like a big community group.

You are the light

in the midst

of all this powerful empire.

You are my light.

Watermark,

you are my light.

And in the midst

of the lampstands,

who does he see?

And this is beautiful.

I love this.

He sees Jesus.

He sees his vision.

And Jesus hasn't gone

on holiday

in the midst

of the pressure

that they're facing

and the uncertainty.

He's not missing in action.

Jesus is right

at the center

of the churches.

This is,

I just think

this is beautiful.

Liverpool.

You know,

I'm a Liverpool fan.

And do you know what,

does anyone know,

what is Liverpool's

theme song?

Here we're going to test

whether you're really

true human beings

or not.

Pat?

Yes, Pat,

would you like to sing it?

No, it's okay.

You'll never walk alone.

I'm not even going to sing.

You'll never walk alone.

That is their song.

And you'll hear it

all the time

when they're playing.

And that is actually

the song

that Jesus wants

to sing to them.

Do you know

that you'll never walk alone?

Do you know

it doesn't matter

in the midst of the fear,

in the midst of the uncertainty,

in the midst of everything

that's going on,

you'll never walk alone.

You may feel small,

insignificant,

powerless,

but do you see him?

Do you behold him?

He's with you.

And if you know

who it is who's with you,

it changes everything.

Because here now

he begins to unpack

what he sees.

And he sees one

like a son of man,

clothed with a long robe

and a golden sash

around his chest.

And the picture is

from the book of Daniel,

where the Ancient of Days,

God himself,

takes his seat to rule.

And then this God-man figure

comes up to him

and he is given a kingdom.

And Jesus

is this son of man

given a kingdom

and he's dressed

in the robes

of the high priest

with a golden sash

around his waist.

Sorry,

around his chest.

I don't know if you know,

normally,

if you're about to get to work,

you put a sash around,

it's like a kind of belt,

around your waist.

But if you put it around here,

that shows that you've

already done your work.

The work's finished.

Jesus' work

of saving us,

he's dealt with sin,

he's dealt with pain,

he's dealt with death,

he's our great high priest,

brings us into access

into his presence.

And then the hairs

of his head

are white

like wool,

like white wool,

like snow.

Now,

I don't know about you,

that kind of,

that seems a bit weird.

But in our culture,

you know,

we tend to value

kind of youth

and like,

if you get grey hairs,

my wife cuts mine out

and I'm sure,

like,

you probably dye yours

because we don't get the idea

that actually,

white grey hair

is a sign of wisdom

and also the whiteness

is purity.

So here is the man,

here is the God man

who has all wisdom,

who knows exactly

what he's doing

and he does it right.

And do you know

in Daniel's vision

who had white hair,

it was God himself.

What he's saying

is Jesus is divine.

He is God himself.

And he's saying,

and then he looks at him

and he sees his eyes

are like a flame

of burning fire.

They're like lasers.

And you know,

fire burns,

it penetrates,

it purifies.

What he's saying is,

if his eyes

are like fire,

they can see right through

every facade

you ever put up.

They can see

right beyond

every fake smile

you put on

right into your heart.

You see,

Jesus doesn't deal

with pretenses

and excuses.

He knows what's going on

right in your heart

right now.

And if you are

right now

feeling a million miles

away from God

and we come into church

and we all put up

our nice mask,

Jesus sees right through it.

He knows exactly

where you are.

There's nothing

that's hidden.

You're naked

before him.

That feels scary,

doesn't it?

Except if you know

that he's the one

who loves you

and has freed you

from your sins

and you can run

to him.

So what that means is

we don't come pretending

before Jesus any longer.

Do you know,

in Watermark,

there is no room

for fake Christianity.

Do you know that?

If you're in pain today

and you think

you've just got to

put on a brave face

and pretend

that you're fine,

Jesus sees through that

and he wants

to draw you

to himself.

Don't be fake

within.

He sees

and he wants

to free you

from your shame.

Do you see him?

And then his feet

are like burnished bronze

and they're on fire,

which is the idea

of strength

and purity.

He's unshakable.

You know,

bronze is heavy.

No political circumstance

or persecution

can move him

off balance.

And then his voice

is like mighty waters.

His voice drowns out

every other voice.

He is glorious.

And the last two things

in this list,

he says,

in his right hand

he has seven stars,

which are the seven angels.

And the word angel

means messenger.

And some people

have thought

that actually

the seven angels

were kind of like

the pastors

of the churches.

Which I think

is an amazing thought

if you think about it

because I know

like Ed and Oscar

and Kevin and Simon,

they look beautiful.

But I don't know

if I've ever called

them angels before.

I mean,

angel Kevin

just led us before.

Right.

No,

the angel,

you know,

angel in the book

of Revelation

has a very specific meaning.

It means angel.

And so,

what he's saying though

is that every church

that he's writing to,

this is extraordinary,

has in the heavenly realms,

in the spiritual realms,

has before God

a representative

who looks over us.

There's something

behind the scenes,

even with watermark.

Which is,

I think that's incredible

because you think,

we worry,

will we have enough finances?

Will we have more people

like on a Sunday or not?

But he's saying,

the angels,

he holds them

in his hands.

And so,

if Jesus holds

the very spiritual

representatives

in his hands,

then why are we worrying?

Why do we worry

about all our finances

and all the other things?

He's already got us.

Do you see him?

Stop seeing in the natural.

See behind.

Last thing

of this list.

He's got a sharp,

two-edged sword

coming out of his mouth.

This is how you know

that you're not supposed

to take this literally.

Because

it would be very awkward

to have a conversation

with someone

like a meter-long piece

of metal in their mouth,

right?

Just turn around.

Oops, sorry.

Right?

It's not meant

to be taken

literally there.

It actually comes

from Isaiah 42

where God brings

his servant

to bring justice

and he said,

you made my mouth

like a sharp sword.

What he's talking about

is talking about

Jesus' word.

That just with a word,

Jesus has power.

I don't know,

like,

authorities and rulers

have to use military force

to enforce their own

authority and power,

right?

They have to bring in troops

to kind of gain control

of something.

Jesus doesn't.

He just needs a word.

You know,

in creation,

what does God need?

He needs just a word

to speak things into life.

You see,

in Hong Kong,

in our present circumstances,

all it needs

is just one word

from Jesus

and everything

would change.

Just one word.

Do you see him?

He's got the power

to condemn

and the power

to equip.

His word hasn't got

a blunt edge to it.

That's why it's two-edged.

It cuts.

As the rain comes out,

isn't it sometimes

hard to believe, though?

When you look around

and the world

sometimes seems

so messed up

and you go,

is Jesus really

that authoritative?

I mean,

really?

Does he really

have that power?

And John

in the book

of Revelation

is going to go,

behold,

see with the eyes

of faith,

I want to show you,

I want this to go

from here

down to here.

And you know,

he keeps going,

do you see him?

Because how do you

respond when you

see Jesus?

How do you respond

when you see Jesus?

You know,

I have friends

who go,

when I see Jesus,

I'm going to ask him

why I didn't get

that job.

Or I'm going to ask him

why he didn't let me

date that person.

I don't think

you will.

Because when

John sees Jesus,

he falls down

at his feet

as though dead.

He's not giving

Jesus a quiz.

He's just

stunned.

He just falls down.

He's on the floor.

He's laid out.

He's trembling.

He's going,

man,

I'm dead.

I wonder,

do we ever see

Jesus like that?

Or do we just have

what I call

cuddly Jesus?

You know,

he's got a nice

little lamb

in his shoulder.

Right?

That's often our

picture of Jesus.

And this picture

is actually,

it's a little bit

scary.

Right?

But what I love

is the next part.

Because we must

have that vision

of Jesus.

But then he goes,

Jesus puts his

strong right hand

in John and says,

fear not.

I'm the first

and the last

and the living

one.

I've overcome.

Because if you know

that I am the

awesome,

fearful one,

then just a word

from me will drive

out all the other

things that you're

afraid of.

You know,

I knew someone

who had a guard

dog called Al.

Al.

And Al was one

of those kind

of dogs that

you were like,

don't mess with

me kind of

dogs,

you know?

And so,

but with his

family,

he was like the

most loyal dog.

He would die

for them.

He was like,

he was so tender

and gentle.

He would lick

them.

They'd just be,

like just so,

like the three

year old kid

could go up to

him and just

kind of stroke

him and be

beautiful.

But when a

stranger came

up,

suddenly he'd

get on all

fours and

would start

growling.

And if that

person started

backing away,

then he would

start moving

closer towards

him.

Because Al

was a guard

dog.

And though

he was tender

and gentle,

he was also

fierce.

But if you

walk down the

road with Al

into like a

rough neighborhood

where you

would never

normally go,

you know that

you'd be fine.

Because you're

with Al.

And his

presence with

you is your

confidence.

Because you

knew that he

was a guard

dog.

But he was

also a tender

guard dog.

This is

John's picture

of Jesus.

he loves

us.

He's given

everything for

us.

But are we

close to him

or are we

running from

him?

Because right

now in Hong

Kong there's a

lot of fear.

Let me ask

you, what are

you afraid of?

Is it the

economy?

Is it your

investments

failing?

Is it your

health?

Is it

loneliness?

Maybe never

getting a

boyfriend or a

girlfriend?

Is it

barrenness?

Is it your

boss or your

family?

Never able to

draw good

boundaries?

Is it sharing

your faith with

others?

We don't need,

Watermark, a

cuddly Jesus.

We need to

behold him for

who he is.

We don't come

lightly before

him.

We don't treat

him lightly in

our office when

we're tempted to

just go and

hide our

faith and

just go along

with the flow

of everything

else.

We don't

treat him

lightly in

our fears.

But the

Trinitarian

eternal God

has a message

for us this

morning.

Just think of

the things you're

afraid of.

What's the

worst thing that

could happen to

you?

What's the

worst that could

happen to you?

Isn't it

ultimately that

we could die

or your

family could

die or your

dreams could

die?

Jesus says,

I have the

keys of

death and

Hades.

You know,

someone said

Jesus went

into the

prison of

death and

he came out

with the

keys.

You see,

he holds the

keys.

So if you

lose the

most precious

thing to

you,

even if

you die,

he's got

the keys

just to

open the

door to

life.

You know,

he's just

not,

I've just

got the

keys to

the economy

on my

key ring.

It's not

just I've

got the

keys to

your personal

security on

my key ring.

I've got the

keys to

death and

your entire

future for

eternity.

Behold,

see,

do not

fear,

but come

to me.

My dad

last week

had a

stroke.

He's

making good

progress now.

But in

one second

he went

from

normality

to ICU.

Everything

just stripped

away.

It's

scary.

my brother,

26

years old,

76 years

old,

died from

brain cancer.

Scary.

But if

Jesus holds

the keys

to

resurrection

life,

then I

don't need

to live

in fear.

We don't

need to

live in

fear.

Because no

chief executive,

no president,

no ruler,

demission,

nobody else

has that

kind of

power.

Only

Jesus does.

Only

Jesus does.

He loves

us.

He died

for us

to free

us from

our sins.

And he's

calling every

one of us

to run

to him

today,

wherever

you are.

Bring

all of

your fear

to him.

if the

government

came in

and shut

down this

church,

Jesus

wouldn't

move a

muscle.

He's got

the keys.

His

presence,

in his

presence,

there is

freedom.

Do you

see him?

There's

no fear.

Let's

pray.

Let's

pray.

Let's

pray.

Let's

pray.

Let's

pray.

Father,

I just

I

realize how

small my

view of

you is.

Father,

I pray

for us

show us

Jesus.

We don't

want our

little view

of Jesus.

We want

who you

really are.

The one

who loves

us so

much that

you'd die

for us.

For the

one who

is awesome

that we

don't want

to tread

lightly

with you.

Father,

I pray for

those of

us who

right now,

we know

that we're

running

away from

you.

Our

hearts are

distracted.

Father,

I pray for

a wake

up call

this

morning.

Show

us

yourself.

I pray

for those

of us

who are

struggling.

Things

around us

seem

overwhelming.

We

wonder how

we can

really hold

on to

you.

show us

that you

have

overcome.

We

just need

to hold

on to

you

because

you

are

the

one

who

holds

our

lives.

Maybe

some

of you

just need

to do

business

with

Jesus

right

now.

Allow

his

spirit

to convict

you.

Allow

him to

speak

to you.

He's

got a

message

for you

this

morning.

Do you

see him?

Do you

want to

see him?

Open

our eyes,

Jesus,

to fall

more in

love with

you.

If you

need prayer

afterwards,

I encourage

you to come

up now.

There's

going to be

some prayer

guys who's

going to be

here ready

to pray

for you.

Don't

put up

pretenses.

Jesus

sees right

through,

but he

wants to

heal you.

to restore

you.

So be

courageous

and come

up and

have people

pray for

you.

We love

you,

Jesus.

Amen.