It's lovely to see you all here
and it's lovely especially to see you who have travelled such
a distance to be with us and especially for those who've travelled,
how many kilometres is it Alan? 17,033. 17,033. And how many hours time difference? 11 hours. So we brought them to the other
side of the world and we brought them to the other side of the
time zone and so we are just so thankful to the Lord for you.
coming all this way to encourage us and to speak to us about the
Lord Jesus Christ and all those others that have travelled some
distance today. We are thankful and pray travelling mercies on
you all as you go home and we pray that as you go home that
you will have sweet thoughts of our Lord Jesus Christ on your
hearts. And the command of God to his
servants in Isaiah 40 is wonderful, isn't it? It says, comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. That's our prayer, that you would
meet, the Lord would meet with you and you would meet with him,
and that you'd come away from this time comforted. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you that you continue to remind your people of how weak they
are and how true it is that the Lord Jesus Christ said that without
me you can do nothing. And Heavenly Father, we therefore
commit ourselves into your hands this morning that you would fulfil
your promise to be the teacher of your people that the blessed
Holy Spirit might come and take the things of the Lord Jesus
Christ and reveal them to us. through the preaching of your
word, the preaching of the word made flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ.
So Heavenly Father, we come as dependent children, and we come
as troubled people in this world, and the comfort that you bring
is a comfort that can only come through the gospel of our dear
and precious Saviour. So we do pray that he would be
lifted up and seen highly exalted amongst us this morning. We thank
you, our Father, for your promised blessings, that you have promised
to inhabit the praises of your people. And we pray that you'd
cause us to praise and worship in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ this morning. Amen. We're going to sing number
five. Thank you. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch The trains have gone. I have already found ? Let's go, let's go, let's go
? Tell to His holy soul, there's
time for day to shine. We've had an amazing Grace staying
with us the last 24 hours, so welcome. Grace was with us last
year and now she's out and all about, so it is amazing to have
Grace with us again. We're going to sing another hymn
in a minute and then Alan will come and speak and then we'll
have a break and have time for a cup of tea and maybe 10 minutes
of fellowship and then we'll sing another hymn and Alan will
speak again and then there is lunch provided. we trust the
Lord will speak. Thank you so much for coming
all this way. Alan has preached a series of
sermons on the Book of Revelation and the sermon notes have been
collated into a book and it's on the table at the back so you
can have signed copies today. Well, let's sing again and then
we'll hear from the Lord through his third. Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. I'm We are dying and thy precious
blood shall never lose its power, till all the ransomed Redeeming love has been my plea,
and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die. we sing I love you. What excellent words, what a
lovely sentiment to begin with this morning. I see it says here
on the pulpits, we would see Jesus. That's my prayer as we
come together this morning. I'm glad that we've got the opportunity
to split this into two. I hope, I said to Beth earlier,
I said, if you're starting to flag and you've just had enough,
then just demonstrate by a nodding head and eyelids and I'll try
and speed it up and I'll slow down. get so that we can have
a break. But anyway... It's such a delight
for Christine and I to be here with you this morning. As Angus
said, it's a long way to come, but it's funny, it's so daunting
before you set off, but then when you're actually on your
way and you get on with it and you come, it doesn't seem half
as bad as you fear it is going to be. I know some of you have
done that sort of trip, it is a long way, but not as bad as
you might fear. So anyway, we're looking at Revelation,
and I don't think I've ever attempted in one session, even though we're
going to split it into two, to preach on seven chapters of a
book of the Bible. So please don't be fearful and
daunted, but I really do think that there's some delightful
encouragement for the people of God. And for any who are not
the people of God, who don't believe, there are some things
that you really should listen to. This is rich. This book is
what God has given us for our encouragement. The purpose of
Revelation, the purpose of this book, which is such a mystery
to so many people. Do you know, I'd love to meet
him, but when I was in my final year of school, 18 years old,
and I professed Christianity of a sort, and one of my best
friends said to me, well it's all well and good is this, but
what do you make of the book of Revelation? That's weird,
that's full of really weird things. I don't know where he is, I've
lost contact, but I'd love to be in contact with him again
to try and show him. Well, look, eventually, in the
Lord's will, after a certain period of time, there's a book
here that might help you. But anyway, the purpose of Revelation
is God's message to his believing servants concerning the unfolding
of history as the Kingdom of God triumphs over the Kingdom
of Satan. The world in which we live is
the Kingdom of Satan, it's the Kingdom of Antichrist. But the
Kingdom of God is going to triumph over that Kingdom of Satan. And
look around you, however bad things seem to the flesh, the
message of the Book of Revelation is that I'll say it again, however
bad things appear in the flesh, in this world, in history, in
politics, everything, everything, everything is perfectly under
God's sovereign control. He is implementing his agenda
now. He is doing it. It's unfolding.
It's all unfolding according to his purposes. You have not
believed in vain, believer. You have not believed in vain.
This isn't, you know, as Paul says, if in this life only we
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're of all people most miserable,
because think of all the things you stop yourself from doing.
He said, no, no. You have not believed in vain.
We are greatly encouraged. The scene as it was then, nearly
2,000 years ago, to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos, and
the scene around in the world today, now, may appear to fleshly
sense, because believers Spirit and flesh, we have that spirit
of God within, that new man that he's given in conversion, but
we're still in these bodies of flesh that are frail and weak
and subject to all sorts of, all of the frailty of this world
around. The scene may appear to that flesh to be shrouded
in mist. One of the things that, you know,
you can read the book, so I'm not going to recite the book
again, but You know, when we went to Switzerland on our vacation
just several years ago, and we arrived in the lovely little
town of Villars up in the Alps above Lake Geneva, and when we
got there, you couldn't... I couldn't see as far as the
front row. And our hotel room, we had a lovely balcony, and
we'd bought a specially nice room with a lovely view, and
the view went, this is no word of a lie, as far as the front
row. And it was like that for the first day and a half, at
least. And it's like, what have we paid all this money for? Why
have we come here? We've come to see a lovely view,
and all we can see is white. White, white. The next morning,
we woke up, I opened the curtains, I opened the sliding doors, and
there were the Alps. Glorious Alps. You see, they
were always there. It was always there. That beautiful
mountain, the sky, the valley, the green valley, the lake, it
was always there. We couldn't see it. And I think
concerning the things of God, in this life, it's always there. He's always there, fulfilling
his purpose. It's just that the flesh, it
often appears as though we're looking through thick mist. It's
really crystal clear. And God's purpose in the book
of Revelation is to show us. His message to believing people
is, fear not. It says it again and again, fear
not. Confidently trust God. Watch. Watch for what? He's coming again.
Christ is coming back. He's coming back for His people.
Watch. Wait patiently. You know how
often in the epistles is patience regarded as such a positive thing
to have? Patience, patience. Expect, because
it is going to happen. And trust Him. So what I want
to do is, first of all, in the first session, to look at the
first vision of the seven visions of the book of Revelation. And
they're in chapters 1 to 3, but primarily we're going to focus
on chapter 1. Because the key to this, you
have to look at the key to the whole thing, it's in the very
first verse of chapter 1 of Revelation. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave unto him. What does that mean? Christ,
Jesus Christ, is the Word of God. In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He is the
manifestation of the unknowable God to man. You know, no man
has seen God at any time. No man has. You cannot look on
my face, said God to Moses. Show me your glory. You cannot
look on my face. But Christ is the manifestation of God to man. To Philip, he said, Philip, have
I been so long with you, and you have not yet known me, you
have not yet seen me. He who has seen me has seen the
Father." If we would know the infinite, unknowable God, we
must know Jesus Christ. This is it. This is the key.
The key to everything of spiritual understanding. That key question
that Christ himself posed to the Pharisees. What think ye
of Christ? That's the test. What think ye
of Christ? Whose son is he? Who is he? What
is he doing? What is his purpose? This is
the revelation of Jesus Christ given by God. And we see who
he is, where he is now, and what he is doing. Who is he? He is
the supreme king of kings. You know, rulers rule and politicians
rule, but Christ, Jesus Christ, is the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. He is our God manifested to us. God manifests Himself in Christ
and via Christ, through Christ, and look, it says in verse 4,
John, the apostle, through whom, he was the human channel, he
was the earthen vessel through whom God gave this message to
give to his servants to show them what's going on. John to
the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you and
peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and
from the seven spirits which are before his throne. That doesn't
mean that there are seven Holy Spirits. There is one Holy Spirit
of God, but the seven refers to perfection. And so in the
perfection of His ministration, Christ is ministered to His people.
It says of the Holy Spirit, He takes of the things of Christ
and reveals them to us. He is the one. Jesus said, if
I go not away, the Father and the Son will not send the Comforter
to you. But if I go away, We will send
him to you and he will speak of me. He will show you the things
that speak of me. He communicates. What does he
communicate? Grace unto you and peace. Grace and peace to his people. Who are his people? His people
are his believing people. As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians,
he said, I thank God for you, we thank God for you, brethren,
beloved of God, because God has from the beginning chosen you
unto salvation. How? Through sanctification,
setting apart of the Spirit of God. And how does it manifest
itself? You believe the truth. You believe the true Gospel.
You believe the Gospel of this book. He sends to us grace and
peace, which is so often the introduction to the epistles.
Grace and peace. Grace is blessings and divine
favour, unmerited goodness from God. And what a thing it is,
you know how often David in the Psalms wrote, blessed is the
man that, blessed is the man who sins, and what a blessing
it is. and meriting goodness, and peace. How is it that we have peace?
Oh, peace be with you, peace be with you. You know, people
in some cultures, they say, peace be with you. Yeah, but what power
or ability have they got to ensure anybody's peace? But he has the
power to ensure peace. Why? Because of what he's accomplished. Redemption accomplishes peace
for His people. The redemption which He accomplished
in His shed blood at Calvary, when He who knew no sin was made
sin for His people, was made the sin of His people, that His
people might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And thereby we
are accepted in the Beloved, and we find peace with God. Not
anger. Not anger. You know when the
people came to Mount Sinai and God was giving the law, and it
was terrifying, they were terrifying. There were thunderings and lightnings
and it was terrifying. This is grace and peace from
our God. Not wrath and condemnation. In
Romans 7, Paul is saying how impossible or difficult it is
in the flesh to please God. As much as he tries, he constantly
fails. And then he finishes up by saying,
who will deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore there is now no condemnation. Peace with God. No condemnation
in Christ Jesus. For those who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not according to the flesh, but the Spirit. There's
comfort. There's comfort from Him. This
is a message of comfort. And whereas we might glibly say
to one another, oh, you have a nice holiday, you have a nice
day, whatever, and we've got absolutely no power in ourselves
to do anything about it, But the one who is speaking is the
one who says, all things work together for good to those who
love God, who are called according to his purpose. Whom he has called,
he orders all things. He orders all things, whether
they appear to the flesh as bad, or good. All things are ordered
for their good, eternally. And He is the one who controls
it. He is the one who, when John sees Him here, He is in heavenly
glory. It's probably by this stage 60
years or more since Christ returned to glory, to heavenly glory.
he went back there, he prayed his father, the man with those
disciples in that upper room. John 17 verse 5, praying to his
father the night before he was crucified for the sins of his
people, he says, and now, O father, glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. here's a man claiming that he
had glory with God before the world was and yet God says by
his prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 42 verse 8 that he is the Lord
and his glory he will not give to another he will not share
his glory with another but here's this man that they're seeing
in that room the Lord Jesus Christ, Father restore to me Glorify
thou me with the glory, with your own self, with the glory
which I had with you before the world was. He is in glory. As John sees this vision, our
Lord Jesus Christ is in heavenly glory. But the church is in the
world. His believing people, the companies
of believing people, they're in the world. Why is that? Because
in that very same prayer, in John 17, Jesus said this in verses
15 and 16, I pray not that thou should take them, his people,
out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil.
They, his people, are not of the world, even as I am not of
the world. They're in the world for a while,
but not of the world. And so this is for this time
when we, even now, every generation of believers, right the way down
from then till now and beyond us, however long God chooses
for it to go on, His people are in this world, in a wilderness
separation from this world, by which I mean that the philosophy,
the thoughts, the ideas are separate from that of the world in general
around us. The church in the wilderness,
there's more of that coming when we get to chapter 12, if we get
that far. The Church, God's Church, why
are we here, is meant to be, by God, in His purposes, a beacon
for the truth of God in Satan's territory. You know, in Satan's
territory, imagine, enemy territory, but there God has his beacon
for his truth. It may be a little flickering
light, but on the darkest night, have you noticed, on the darkest
night is when you see the little flickering lights most clearly.
A little flickering, one here, one there. God still has those
little flickering lights bearing the truth of his kingdom in this
fallen world. As a contrast to the subtle deceiving
lies of Satan, who says always to mankind in general, has God
said? No, of course God hasn't said.
Is there a God? No, of course there isn't a God.
This is Him. We're talking about the true
church, of course. We're talking about the church
that believes God, regarding what, who Christ is. This is, test the spirits, said
John, to the churches he was writing to, whether they be of
God. He who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is of God. Oh, don't you say, well, don't
they all do that? Don't they all say there was a man called
Jesus? Well, yes, they all say that there was a man called Jesus,
but do they say that that baby born at Bethlehem, who grew up
in the carpenter shop in Nazareth, who ministered and who was crucified,
that man, that flesh and blood that the disciples met, that
the crowds followed, that people saw, that they looked on when
they were crucified, that that man, that man, that man, that
he is the Messiah of the Old Testament, that he is the one
who came to fulfill everything that the Old Testament said he
would fulfill. What did the Old Testament say he would fulfill?
He would save his people from their sins. That's why his name
was called Jesus. Call his name Jesus! For he shall
save his people from their sins. His people believe him concerning
Christ, concerning righteousness. Righteousness. Righteousness
is what we need to be accepted by God. Righteousness. They believe
him concerning sin. Sin. They believe him concerning
redemption. Redemption is about buying. It's
about buying back. It's about paying the price to
possess. Christ paid the price of redemption. What was the currency he used?
His precious blood. We're not redeemed with silver
and gold and corruptible things like that, says Peter, but with
the precious blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe Him concerning regeneration,
that it is entirely of God. Who becomes a Christian? The
Holy Spirit must come. They're born not of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It is God's
will. who he's going to save. He chose
a people in Christ before the foundation of the world, and
these are the ones that in Christ he saves, and he calls them out.
Who are they? I don't know, but they're a multitude
that no man can number, of every tribe and tongue and kindred.
And we believe in a salvation that is not a possibility, that
is not an option, that is not an offer, come up, roll up, roll
up, buy this, look, if all you have to do is this, this, no.
We declare a salvation accomplished by what Christ did. He was lifted
up for our transgressions on the cross, but He was raised
from the dead. Why? For our justification, because
God was saying to this world, what He has done has accomplished,
the payment of the debt of your sins, so that there is therefore
now no condemnation. Who shall bring any charge to
the elect of God? Christ has died, His blood is
shed, Satan is disarmed, he cannot bring any charge. So, the church
is like troops in enemy territory. But listen, you know when you
see some of these wartime movies and there's troops and they're
sort of abandoned behind enemy lines and they're in serious
danger and, you know, the American rescue squad comes zooming in
with its Chinooks and into that dangerous jungle with the bullets
and the shells and flying around all around them, but it comes
in and it gets them and it takes them out. Rescue is coming. Rescue is coming. Look at verse
7 of chapter 1. Behold, he cometh with clouds,
and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him.
And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even
so, amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and
which is to come the Almighty. He, this one, is coming again. Do you believe that? This is
what the scripture declares. This is what God's Holy Spirit
teaches us. He is coming again. He is coming to take his people
out of this world of Satan, this kingdom of Satan. Rescue is on
its way. And he's Almighty God. who is
revealed. The Alpha and the Omega. This
is Christ who is speaking. When he says, I am the Alpha
and the Omega, this is Christ who is speaking. The mouthpiece,
if you like, of God. The one through whom the Godhead
reveals himself to man. The beginning and the ending.
saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come.
The Almighty, He, our God, is coming again for His people.
Be comforted, child of God. In this world, however things
appear, wherever you are, however they might become, He is on your
side. So where is He now? John saw
Him there in this vision. He is glorified in heaven. He
is restored to the glory that He had with the Father before
the beginning of time. His church, meanwhile, His believing
people are in this world, and they're rubbing shoulders with
them every day, they are experiencing persecution, they're experiencing
all sorts of deprivation, they're experiencing all sorts of challenges,
but he's saying, be comforted, I am with you, he's on our side.
But where is he now? Where is he now? Look at verse
13, or verse 12. I turned to see the voice that
spake with me, and being turned You see, this is all vision,
this is all symbolism, this is what was signified, it says in
verse 1 of the chapter. We don't take it literally, at
least not all of it, it's pretty obvious where some things are
to be taken literally, but it's all symbolism, it's all... of significance spiritually.
Being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst
of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed
with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with
a golden girdle." And then it goes on to describe this glorious
being, this glorious vision that John had. of the Lord Jesus Christ. His head and his hairs were white
like wool. Please do not form an image in
your mind that says if an artist was there he could paint a picture
like that. No, you shall not make unto yourselves any graven
images, any graven images on pieces of artwork or in your
mind. No, this is describing in symbol
the glorious, divine holiness of this being that was presented
in vision to John. And look where he is. in the
midst, verse 13, in the midst, you see seven golden candlesticks,
and in the middle of them, in the midst of them, not distant
from them, is this one like unto the Son of Man. Now what does
it all mean? Well, we need to speculate about
this, don't we? No, we don't. Look at verse 20.
look at verse 20, the mystery the mystery of the seven stars
which you saw in my right hand, this is Christ speaking to John
the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand
and the seven golden candlesticks, I'm going to tell you the seven
stars are the angels of the seven churches angels, messengers,
pastors the ones with the message of God for those companies of
believing people The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches,
and the seven candlesticks, which you saw, are the seven churches. What do candlesticks do? Candlesticks
are for the purpose of bearing candles. They themselves, a candlestick,
if you go into a dark room and there's a candlestick in there,
you will not see anything. The candlestick is just the thing
that bears the light. It bears the light. It needs
the light to be put in it. The Church of God is a candlestick
in this world, but what's the light that it needs to bear to
this world? It's the light of Christ. It's
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where do you
see that? In the face of Jesus Christ. He who in the beginning
said in Genesis 1, he said, let there be light. And there was
light, and God saw the light, that it was good. That same One
who said in creation, let there be light, has said, has shined
in our hearts, says 2 Corinthians 4 verse 6, He shined in our hearts,
the hearts of His believing people, to give the light. of the knowledge
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Where do we see that light of
the knowledge of the glory of God? We see it in Jesus Christ. That's where it is. In him are
hid, says Paul to the Colossians, all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. Oh, the great philosophers of
this world, the great scientists, they're all trying to understand
ultimate knowledge, you know, the theory of everything and
all that sort of thing. But in Christ, I found all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Salvation knowledge. Salvation
light. And it's to the seven churches
which, of course, then, when John was writing, these were
seven literal churches. He names them Ephesus, Smyrna,
Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. They're real places
in what we now call modern Turkey. generally, all around that sort
of area of the Aegean Sea, around there. Seven churches, but seven
is God's number of perfection. Seven is the number by which,
again and again, He will implement His purpose in the replacement
of the kingdom of Satan with the kingdom of God. Seven literal
churches, but they're also symbolical. They're symbolical of all churches
that have ever come since then. And what do I mean by a church?
I mean a group of believing people with an angel, that isn't somebody
with wings, but it's somebody who brings God's Word faithfully
from the Scriptures, week by week, and they gather together,
and they feed on the Lord Jesus Christ through the Word that
is preached to them. And it includes the little group
where we are, in Wellingarden City in England, I'm sure it
includes Shoalhaven here, and dotted around even this world,
even in these dark days, where there seem to be so few, so few,
Plenty of religion, but so few of the true churches of Christ.
So there is Christ, the majestic being of the Godhead, revealed
in the glory of heaven, and he is now in the midst of his churches
on earth. Do you remember what I said,
you know, remember the illustration about the mist? and the beautiful
scene of the Alps was always there, we just couldn't see it.
This is telling us that now, you look around, and all the
trouble of work happens, and the difficulties of family happens,
and the problems of health happen, and the difficulties of finance,
and all of these things go on and affect believers because
we live in these bodies of flesh the same. But we must keep in
mind what God is saying is, look, I'll draw back the curtain of
the mist of what you're seeing, and there he is in the glory
of heaven, and he's in the midst of his churches. What did he
say? Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am
I in the midst. Is that not spine-tinglingly
encouraging? There he is in the very midst
of his churches. verses 16 and 17, he had in his
right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth, this is Christ,
this glorified Christ, so he's got his ministers in his hand,
they're his under-shepherds of his flock, and out of his mouth
went a sharp two-edged sword. This is his word, the word of
God, which is a sharp two-edged sword. And his countenance was
as the sun shineth in his strength. How would we be if we physically
saw him, if we physically saw John's vision that he was given? He
says, When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid
his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not. I am the first
and the last. See? Fear not. When they came
to Mount Sinai, there was great fear fell upon them. They were
terrified. They told Moses, please cover
your face, were terrified. If anything, a person or an animal
was to come close to the mountain, they were to be shot through
with an arrow because it was such a dreadful place to be. But that's on the strict basis
of law and justice and righteousness. But in Christ, in Christ who
has established righteousness, who has paid for the sins of
his people. In him, there is fear not. He says, fear not, I'm the first
and the last. I am he that lives and was dead. He died for the sins of his people
and behold, now he is alive forevermore. And he is the one who has the
keys, the keys of death, of hell and of death. Salvation is accomplished. Salvation is accomplished. All
that's to happen is under the declaration of the Gospel, Holy
Spirit regeneration will call out. his people to believe. What does it say in the Acts
of the Apostles? It says that the Apostles went everywhere
preaching Christ. They went declaring the Gospel
of Christ. It says they, wherever they went,
they preached Christ. And it says, those who were ordained
to eternal life believed. Why is that? Because the Holy
Spirit did it. It's all of God. The Holy Spirit
did it. The Holy Spirit gave that essential
gift of God, which is the gift of faith, which is the sight
of the soul, to see the things of Christ. The natural man does
not receive the things of God. They're foolishness to him. Neither
can he know them. You come across that every day.
Whatever you see on the TV, in the papers, in the news, when
you talk to people at work, or wherever you might be, you see
that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they're foolishness to him, neither can he know them.
for they're spiritually discerned. The things of God are spiritually
discerned, therefore you must be given spiritual discernment
to discern the things of God. What is spiritual discernment?
It is faith. It is the gift of faith that
he gives to his people. And he is the one who has the
keys of death and hell. He says in Psalm 68 and verse
20, Unto God the Lord belong the issues from death. if you
would know about life and death, and eternal life and death, you
must know God in Christ. You must know Him, because unto
God, unto God the Lord belong the issues from life and death. So what is He doing now? Verse
7. Verse 7. Behold, he cometh with clouds. He's in the process of coming
again. And with clouds? Psalm 97 speaks
of clouds and darkness in the context of the glory of God,
the hidden mystery, the righteousness and judgment of God. It's all
about the glory of God. He's coming again with the glory
of God, in the glory of God. And it says, everyone, without
exception. Everyone, without exception,
shall see Him. It says in Scripture that every
knee shall bow. Not just the people that have
claimed to believe Him, but every knee shall bow. In Isaiah 45,
it says, look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye
safe, for I am God, and there is none else. And it goes on
to say, every knee shall bow, and then Philippians, Paul to
the Philippians, takes that and expands it, and he says that
at the name of Jesus, the one who left the glory of heaven,
for the purpose of redemption of his people. And God has highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." I love Psalm 2 in
connection with Revelation. You need to keep them in mind. In the last verse of Psalm 2
it says this, like you and me. It says, to
anyone who will hear, kiss the sun lest he be angry and he perish
from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed
are all they that put their trust in him. He then writes, don't
worry I'm finished in a couple of minutes this half, Because
chapters 2 and 3 are then letters to the seven literal churches,
but symbolical churches. So they're letters to every church.
They're letters to the Shoalhaven Gospel Church in these days.
Letters to the churches. And let me just summarise very
swiftly. Christ knows our situation. He does. Christ knows the situation
that we're in. He knows everything about the
situation that we're in. He knows all the trials that
we're subject to. He knows the efforts that we
put in for the cause of the Gospel of Christ. Because Christ, the
thing he calls for from his churches, from his believing people, is
utter commitment to his cause. That's it. Utter commitment to
his cause. He knows our situation, our trials,
he knows the efforts that we put in. to proclaiming the gospel
of grace, he knows our weaknesses in the flesh, he knows our strengths,
he knows our isolation in this wilderness world in which we
are, he knows what we need, he commends in these letters, he
commends patience. How often the epistles talk about
patience, patience, waiting, believing God, waiting for his
purposes to unfold. because we trust him, that we're
in those purposes for our eternal good. Patience, service, works. He values, he commends doctrinal
purity. There's so much religion that
seems to peddle the idea that the more forgiving of all sorts
of stuff we are, the more loving and caring it is. Absolutely
not. That's not the message of Christ. doctrinal purity he calls
for. He warns against that loss of
that first love thrill. You know when the sinner learns
that his sins are paid for in Christ and believes Christ and
trusts him and there's that first thrill. those of you that have
been in love in this life, you know, remember, some of us are
getting a bit old now, but you know, if we can remember back
that far, there were days when, oh, the heart was fluttering
all the time, when I thought of her, oh, just wanted to be
with her, and oh, this situation required me to be away, and what
am I thinking, oh, I just want to be with, you know that? That's
how it is, with the child of God, with Christ, but you know,
he said to the Ephesians, you're so good at all these things,
but he said, I've got one thing against you, you have lost your
first love, You've lost that initial, that first delight,
that first love affair with Him. No, don't lose that. Compromise
with false doctrine. Don't compromise with false doctrine.
Ah, but it will be so much easier. Look down the history of the
Church. How often has it appeared that A good situation has fallen
into compromise and error just because of feeling that they
were so alone. And if only they'd compromise
on this, then there'd be a much stronger church and they'd get
on so much better. If you want to know where the
1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, which is full of the law, where
that comes from, compared with the 1644 and 1646, it was because
people a few years later got frightened that they were all
alone, so they joined up with others that were real legalists,
and before you know it you've got a compromise situation. No,
let's not compromise. Let's not go to the other extreme
and say, it doesn't matter what we do. Christ has died for the
sins of his people, therefore let us sin that grace may abound.
Let's tolerate false teachers. No, no, no, let's not do that.
Hypocrisy, formalism, lukewarmness. He encourages and promises all
the blessings of the Kingdom of God. I'll finish with this. Why are God's believing people
not taken straight to heaven? Why are we still here? It's nearly
2,000 years since John wrote this. Why are we still here?
Why is the church still here? You know, generations must have
thought, that doesn't seem to be happening. What's going on?
Why are we not there yet? The answer is this. It will take
that, and however much more there is to come, for the kingdom of
Satan to be displaced by the kingdom of God. For the kingdom
of God to be triumphant. Now how are we going to see that?
How are we going to see that? Do you know what we need? We
need a heavenly perspective on history. And that's what we're
going to see in chapters 4 to 7. And we'll do that shortly.