Thanks, Sherman, of the fourth Presbyterian Church, but there's the mail-in. Is the 25th of November, 2001. The sermon this morning is delivered by Dr. Robert Norse and entitled, Preparing for Jesus, Part 2. The text is Revelation 1, verse 8 to 20. As an Erica, thank you for drawing us into the presence of the Lord. Turn with me in God's Word this morning to the Book of the Revelation and the First Chapter as we read from the 8 verse. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty. I, John, hurt your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience for Jesus Christ was on the island that is called Pasmus for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. And what you see right in a book and send it to the certain churches, which are in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pagomus, to Tyapher, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Leodicea. Then I turn in to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned, I saw certain golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the son of man clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and his hair were white like wool, it's quite a snow and his eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine grass, as if refined in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars. As of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And his conscience was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore, I am then. And I have the keys of Hades and of death, like the things which you have seen and the things which are. And the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lamp stands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven lamp stands which you saw are the seven churches. Amen. He the Lord blesses us both the reading and understanding of his holy words. Let's pray together. And as we pray, we may remember our sister Cheryl Lambert who last night fell and has been admitted to suburban hospital and has asked for our prayers. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, as we bow before you, we recognize that our days are spent in your hands and that you are our Lord. Grant to us now that as we would grow in you and our ways would be directed by your spirit, that we shall find in your word encouragement by your grace, light, that we might walk the dark part of life. Grant that we shall find by your strength our care lifted. We commit to you each and every one who is a part of our family of faith and ask that by your grace now, your word might reach each of us afresh and by your spirit we shall be drawn to walk closer with you our Savior and our God in whose name we gather. Amen. As we come into the season of Advent, leading to Christmas and its celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, we fear the prophet Amos speak to his generation and speak to us as he says afresh, prepare to meet by God. And as he spoke to his generation and to a people who were careless about God and reminded them as he reminds each of us that as we come to this season, we greet Jesus Christ afresh. And in Jesus Christ we have our God who has stood to us. He has come to us in manual God with us. And he reminds us that as we prepare for Jesus, there is a seriousness about the way in which we order our priorities, the way in which we prepare our hearts and our minds, the way in which we reflect upon him. Seriousness that is found in the way in which we meet God in his word and by his spirit. For many of us, the Christmas season is one that is so busy that at best we focus upon spiritual things with half of our attention, and the other half absorbed by the necessary and varied preparations that we make for the Christmas season. And yet we are reminded that it's truly the meaning of that season, the encounter with Jesus Christ, the remembrance of God come to us in the birth of a baby to a virgin. Then our full attention is directed because this is the single most important of all events. And as we make preparation to meet with Jesus Christ, as we give our attention to the meeting with Him. So in the words that we read together from the book of the revelation, we gain understanding of how we are prepared for Jesus. For in the passage that we read together, we saw John the disciple, the disciple whom Jesus loved, come afresh into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what marks out his encounter with Jesus is the reverence with which he greets him. For John tells us that when he saw Jesus no longer the one who walked upon the earth, but raised from the dead, when he saw Jesus in all his glory, revealed in the fullness of his majesty. He fell before him as one who was dead. And that he speaks. He reminds us that when he encountered Christ, no longer the baby born in Bethlehem, but the living God. Then every one of the faculties of his soul, all the strengths of his life, all the wanted independence, everything collapsed and he said, I fell as one dead. He was overcome for he recognized, but he stood in the presence of the all wives, the all-powerful God, and he prostrated himself before him. And as John met Jesus, we are reminded that to prepare for the meeting with Jesus Christ, then our hearts have to be filled afresh, our minds stunned and knew at the sense of his power and his presence. It's caught up in the single word, reverence. You can't meet Jesus without reverence in him. Or you don't meet a baby anymore. You meet the one who has come to us, who is God. In all the splendour, all the majesty, all the power of his person. And as we prepare to greet him in this Christmas season, we greet God, come to us. And the only way in which we can meet him is to reverence him, to meet him with reverence. Now, reverence is a great deal more than social convention what you do in church, but keeping of rules. He involves us in seeing that the one with whom we meet is much greater than we are. And demands of us respect and more than respect. The idea of reverence in our modern society has often fallen out of any sort of use at all. And some people are able to applaud at the death of reverence because they see it as nothing more than a forced training either of children or of people or of hearts. And yet the scripture sees reverence as being part of the way not only Christian groups that say here, but the way in which a society is ordered, whether it's the dealing in families, children, honoring mothers and fathers, or citizens being subject, praying for and reverence in those who govern them as under the authority of God, reverence becomes a necessary part of the way in which life is lived. And particularly, the way in which God is met, our hearts must reverence him. And the reverence that we have seen before God will be displayed as it spills over into the way in which our relationships with one another are formed. It begins when we recognize that when we come into the presence of one who is greater than we are, higher than we are, then we worship. It's the sincere acknowledgement of the greatness of God. When we greet Jesus Christ, when we use this season to prepare to meet Him, and it's all the celebrations and it's all the parties and it's all the things that we do, we meet God. And we meet Him as those who have been formed and fashioned and created by His hand. And to meet Him, we have to meet Him with reverence. What is it? Well, as we read these verses, John reminds us that the nature of reverence begins with fear. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as built dead. The first instinct and response of John as he saw Jesus was to be afraid. And remember, this is the disciple who more than any of the others was loved by Jesus and who loved the Lord in return. And yet when he saw Him as He truly is, he saw Him not simply as His friends, not simply as the baby born in weakness, living and dying, nor yet as a teacher, that He witnessed Jesus as the Lord of glory and in that moment, John was afraid. Because He knew that Jesus was the judge. He stands as the one amidst the seven lamp stands. He stands as the one who has prepared first and foremost to judge the people of God and to stand in judgment over the church that He has died to create. Jesus stands as the Lord with all His glory and all His power, focused upon His people. And John when He saw Him as He truly is was afraid. And it's a matter of real truth for us that reverence begins with an element of fear. Because we recognize that there is one who is greater than we are, who is greater, both morally and powerfully, and who will stand as our judge. When Emma spoke to His nation and He said to His people who had prepared to meet thy God, He reminded the nation who had trivialized religion. Or they continued the practices. They continued the rituals that they had forgotten God. And in calling them to prepare to meet God, He called them back to the seriousness of that. And there they called them to see God as He truly is. High and listed up and standing in judgment. It was no trivial matter to deal with God for the Lord was the judge. And this morning, your attitude, my attitude to meeting Jesus Christ is conditioned by understanding who He is. Christian nature now and say, Well, I'm not afraid after all. Jesus has said there is now no condemnation. He has come. He has died upon the cross in my place. Surely I do not need to be afraid. He comes to me as Savior and friend. And truly that's the place that believers who lift their eyes from see in this glorious God, our salvation. But John knew that too. And John had walked with Jesus. And he's an interesting truth that this man had known Jesus as closely as a brother. And yet when he saw him, he fell as one afraid. The fact is that true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ even knowing that by His death, He has absorbed the judgment of God toward your sin and mine. Still means that we see Him as God, the judge. To remember when the disciples saw Jesus transfigured, they heard a voice from heaven. And those disciples, even though they loved Jesus and were loved by Him, though they were privileged to walk with Him, fell on their faces. And we are told they were afraid. Revolence begins with fear. To recognize that God is the judge is a fearful man who has the power of life and death. But it goes beyond fear. For reverence is more than a craven attitude of heart. It's grounded also in a sense of awe. Listen to John. He feared the voice as if hanging it spoke. I am the first and the last, the living one. John was filled with awe. It's the impression of the disciple who recognizes again that the one whom He knows and loves and who has been loved is truly God. That created a sense of awe in you. But when you talk about the relationship you have with Jesus Christ, your relationship is with God. He was before the creation of the world. The first, He says, he will be the judge when all the world has passed away. He will be the last. When all the processes of this world are wrapped up, whose first and will be lost, the closer the relationship with Jesus, the more intimate the knowledge of Jesus, the greater the awe that is in our soul. You'd expect the reverse because the better you know someone, the closer you are to them, the more intimate you are. There is a lessening of a sense of awe in that relationship. There are all sorts of other things that develop, but the closer you are to someone, the less you are in awe of them. Not so with Jesus, the closer you are to Him, the more you are awe that God would love you, that He would give His Son to come for your sake. And it's important because fear gives way to awe. Prophet you that, when he said, the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence and He added for our God is a consuming fire.
If this morning you loved the Lord Jesus Christ because you had been loved by Him, then there is an element of fear. Otherwise you've never understood what it is to stand in the presence of the one who can judge and we're looking for the human heart and see not only what we do but what we think. And yet that love is not, that fear is not the only thing that is there for there is an awe. That this God who knows you so well should have given Himself in His Son Jesus Christ to die upon across because He cared for relationship good. To call you children of God, no longer children of death, of wrath, of separation. There is an awe that God, the Creator, should desire relationship with His creature. And yet there is more than awe too. There is evidence that He is truly born of love. John who saw Jesus, who heard Him declare Himself that He was the God who would judge the church and all the world who was filled with all of the facts that the same Jesus that He had walked His world with says, I am the first and the last. And when He falls down before Him, John feels the hand of Jesus upon His shoulder and hears the voice of His God say to Him. Fear not, Jesus listen and fear and awe. The true love produced reference. For Jesus has come to John as He has come for you and come to you to say fear not. Oh, when He spoke to John, it was to the one who knew that He was a sinner and knew that He deserved separation from God. And yet He came to Him to bear His Son. And the words of God that are whispered into His ear. The hand of the Lord that was laid upon His shoulder and lifted Him up. There is words so comfort to His soul that hand undergirded His life with strength for He said to Him, you are not condemned. Though you are a rebellious creature and sinner, you are not going to die. Though you are helpless, you won't be trodden down because you are more loved than you can ever know. Jesus instead spoke to that man, soul and said, I die. Because I am alive forever more than I have the tears of death and hell for what John third, what we hear as we meet with Jesus Christ is the fact that He has suffered, He has died. He has died for you and for me, He has burned the punishment for your guilt and mine. He has the keys of death and hell. And He unlocks the door of life that we shall enter in.
And as Jesus whispered to John, He whispered to you as He whispered to me, I am the triumphant one. Don't forget that, for I have not forgotten you. Oh, it is true that I died, but I rose from the dead.
And there is born in John. Now, not simply the fear of God, nor the or the fact that God should desire a relationship with Him, but our love because He has been loved fully and absolutely and completely. It all caught up as Jesus says to him, arise. Don't be afraid. The word that God whispered in the ear of everyone who is His child. It was from the beginning and will be until the end of time. That's why we reverence the Lord. Reverence begins inside of us. It isn't a question of what we do. Revolence isn't simply a matter of being trained to do the right things and not the wrong things. It isn't a matter like slurping your soup out of the soup spoon. Simply something on the outside. Reverence isn't whether or not you kneel in church or clap in church. It is about the heart, the whole soul, having seen them known God. It isn't a code of outward conduct. Though surely the way we behave before the Lord says something about the way in which we know Him and love Him. You wouldn't normally be disrespectful to someone in whose presence you stood. You wouldn't turn your back on Him when He was speaking. That is a thing which the way in which we meet Him says whether or not truly we have met God, whether there is respect and whether there is reference. But reverence is more than a set of standards. It becomes for us as the scripture outlines it. A measure of our faith. When we don't see God with visible eyes, but nonetheless if we see Him the whole way in which we deal with Him is betrayed by the posture by the way in which our heart greets Him. And when we approach this advent season as we come to meet with Jesus Christ, the way in which we meet with Him will tell us whether or not there is true faith, whether there is a reference in our hearts, whether we have seen Him as the judge, whether we have seen His power and His glory God with us, whether we have felt the influence that He should come for our sake and know the warming of our hearts, whether we will have known that we are loved despite our sin, whether we have seen His triumph for our sake. Or it works itself out in how you meet Jesus, how you speak to Him and others, how you deal with Him, how you feel and how you betray His presence in your life. It's spoken about in the whole way in which we live for the Lord Jesus Christ. If you believe that God is close to you, then you act accordingly. If you are irreverent in the way in which you speak, in the way in which you walk and talk and rest it is because you don't really believe God is made you. Revolence becomes the mark of really meeting with God and it comes as a challenge to you and to me. Whether we have met with Him, when Amos says, prepare to meet your God, it calls out to us the serious searching soul to say how real has God been in my life. The great scholar, Georgia Adam Smith, tells how on one occasion he went with two guides and he was a climber and he climbed one of the mountains in the Sermoth Valley on a very stormy day. And he ascended the viphone from a sheltered side and he was so illiterate that he got to the top of that mountain that he began to move forward as he thought of the view that he would see out of the hall of that valley in Switzerland and the sense of the elation that having triumphed and climbed the summit of that hill and as he got to the top and as he ran forward he forgot about the gale that blew and so he was almost blown over the edge and a guide caught him and pulled him down and said to him, Get on your knees, the only place you're safe. And today, the gale begins on our knees and if to see Jesus, he is the Lord of God. It is to meet him with subdued and submissive heart and he is to embrace him as sinners receiving the full goodness of God with hearts that are warm by his mercy you are safe. Only as John was safe on his knees for when you begin there, God reaches down with his hand and lifts you and then he says, Your mind. Each of us, as we approach Christmas, each of us as we travel through the Advent season are reminded that our hearts must for reverence him as Lord. If truly we will greet him, God will. I have a method. We recognize so often that more than lip service is required and yet too often we have no time for you and our eyes do not see you as Lord of glory. And our lives do not show that we have met with the King of Kings. Forgive us and grant to us that true reverence that beholds first our God that theirs before you, worship and adoration lead us through fear to fall and to love and cause us in response that we would John shall give us all and bring us all in service and surrender. Submission and in joy Jesus Christ the King in whose name we pray. Amen.