your attention this morning to
the book of Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19. I want to basically this morning
look at one verse. I'll give you a moment to get
to Revelation chapter 19. And while you're turning, let
me tell you that, as you know, John is the author of this book. John the Beloved, one of the
Lord's apostles. And I suppose, of all the apostles,
John was the one who was most outwardly intimate with the Lord. He seems to always be found near
the Lord, often found leaning upon the Lord's chest. And the
Gospel of John, which he penned, He never mentions Himself by
name. He refers only to Himself as
the disciple that Jesus loved. And He didn't mean that in an
arrogant way, not at all. He refers to Himself that way
out of humility. John couldn't get over the fact
that the Lord Jesus loved him. And you know what, Amy? I can't
either. I can't get over the fact that the Lord loves me,
the wretch that I am. I understand that. John being
one of the Lord's closest friends in all the world, he knew firsthand
all that his Lord had been through. His disciples walked with him
for three and a half years, lived with him. They knew. John had
seen the Lord Jesus beaten. He'd seen Him buffeted. He'd
seen Him scourged in Herod's palace and in Pilate's hall.
John had stood at the foot of the Lord's cross and saw firsthand
the extreme agonies of the Lord's death. The crown of thorns dug
deep into his brow as the blood ran down into his eyes and down
to the ground. The blood from his hands and
his feet and the wound in his side from the spear. John saw
it all. It would be impossible for the
suffering images of the Lord Jesus Christ's crucifixion to
ever fade from John's memory. Etched there forever was the
pain and the suffering and the death of His Lord. I remember
just a few things over the years that happened that were somewhat
traumatic. I can still see them in my mind's eye. You know what
I'm talking about. It was love for his elect that
brought Christ to his death. I think the Lord's death had
to be on John's mind when he wrote those words, herein is
love, not that we love God. As he saw his Savior lay down
his life voluntarily to put away his sin, he must have said herein
is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us. and that he gave himself to be
a propitiation for our sins. John must have recalled the pain
and the suffering of his beloved Savior when he wrote those words,
we love him because he first loved us. Don't you imagine?
Don't you imagine? But I'd have you to notice in
the passage before us that John saw a door that was opened up
to heaven. And this apostle whom Jesus loved
saw what he had never imagined. God enabled him to see out of
this realm of time into eternity. And that's what we have before
us this morning. John saw the Lord Jesus in quite
another manner than he did at his crucifixion. He was no longer
suffering. He was no longer a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief. He's no longer despised as men
esteem Him not. No. Far from it. He no longer
appears to be a guilty criminal. As our Lord hung in the middle
of the three, the world looked upon Him and said, He must be
the worst. But He no longer appears to be a guilty criminal. He's
no longer portrayed as a helpless victim. No, sir. In verse 11,
the beloved John tells us, And I saw heaven opened, and behold
a white horse. And he that sat upon him was
called faithful and true. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make whole." And what a contrast here between the cross
and this vision that John saw. When our Lord was on earth, He
walked from place to place, from city to city. Our Lord came to
earth as a foot soldier. He walked wearily through the
mire and the dirt to get where He must need to go. And He must
need to go some places. Christ came into the world to
save sinners, and I wish we could fathom the condescension that
our Lord made. Oh, you know, it's one thing
for an earthly king to stoop to the depths that our Lord did,
That would have been a great and humble descent for any earthly
king. But for God Almighty to be found
in fashion as a man, for God omnipotent to humble himself
and become obedient to the cross, even the death of the cross.
Oh, that's a stoop that only God could make effectual. And
now all these years later, John sees his Lord riding royally
as a king. bestowed with honor and power
and majesty, and he's in war against his enemies. This account
here in Revelation is of Armageddon, but those hands which were nailed
to the cross now hold the reins, and those pierced feet now grip
the stirrups of a gallant steed, a war horse, and he's charging
this enemy of God's people, avenging the blood of his people. And
what a sight this must have been. You can go on reading a few verses
here in Revelation 19, verse 12. His eyes were as a flame
of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name
written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed
with vesture, dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word
of God. I'm telling you friends, this
is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And yes, on earth, our
Lord was crucified in weakness. But was He really? No, not at
all. His crucifixion was voluntary.
He laid down His life for His elect people. It was by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God that men with wicked hands
took and crucified the Lord of Glory. Oh, they did it because
they hated Him without a cause, but behind it all was according
to His determinate counsel. Now, feast your eyes upon Him. As you look with John this morning
through heaven's open portal into eternity, here's one who
sits on the throne, and he's the one that you must see. He's
the one that you must trust to put your sin away. No one else
can do it. No one. The one who sits there
is called faithful and true. Oh, as I thought on those words,
I thought to myself, that's the Savior that I need. That's the
Savior I must have. One who is faithful and true. This is none other than the Lord
Jesus. He's the faithful and true. John
told us in chapter one of his gospel, you'll remember this,
he said, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. And then he goes on to say, and
the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And that proves who
he is, doesn't it? Emmanuel, God with us. Galatians 4.4, when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made
under the law. And I'm telling you, friends,
I don't know how anyone today can deny that salvation is of
the Lord. God sent forth His Son. That's what it says. God initiated
the salvation. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. God sent forth His Son. God initiated
salvation. Verse five, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
That's substitution. And because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son. Oh, I like the sound of that,
don't you? And if a son, then an heir, an
heir of God through Christ, who's the faithful and true one. Oh,
that word faithful in this verse, as you know, this is capitalized.
And it's actually used as a proper noun, is what it's called. Now
I'm not good in English, and I'm not going to try to give
you an English lesson here. And it's even better that we're
not looking at math, trust me. But this is the only time in
the scriptures that the word is used this way. It's the same
with the word true. This is the only time in all
the scriptures that we find the word true capitalized and used
as a proper noun. Now, what's the significance
of that? Christ is so faithful and so
true that God here holds Him up as the standard for both. Christ is so faithful and true
that faithful and true are His name. The Lord simply and He plainly
and He directly said, I am the way, and I am the truth, and
I am the life, and no man cometh to the Father but by Me. Now let me ask you something. Does that need explaining to
you? Does that need explaining? No, it's simple, it's easy to
understand. But it's got to be revealed to
you. It has to be revealed to you as simple as it is. Otherwise,
you'll never believe Christ at all. And you'll try your whole
life to save yourself by righteous work that you yourself must do.
I've seen it firsthand. Friends, Jesus Christ is faithful
and true. You may ask, what does that mean
to me? Well, it ought to mean everything to you. Because you
stand before God in your sin. Naturally speaking, all of us
have come short of the glory of God. There's none that doeth
good, no not one. We say that all the time. Do
you believe it? Do you believe that your righteousness,
that which you intend on offering God to accept, is nothing but
filthy rags compared in Scripture to a menstrual cloth? And not
to get graphic, but that's what our righteousness is before God.
Are we there gonna stand before God in our righteousness? Are
we gonna stand in the righteousness of one who is faithful and true? As I said, our Lord is so faithful
and true that God names him so. Faithful and true is what he
is, and faithful and true is what he's called. He's faithful
and true, that promise. And if you trust alone in Christ,
I'm telling you this morning, everything is good. No, that's
not right. I take that back. Everything
is perfect. Perfect. Christ, the faithful
and true one, provides to God what God requires of you. And
that is perfect obedience to His holy law. You can't provide
it. And I can't provide it. You know
what? The Pope can't provide it. Only
God the Son, who is Faithful and true. God must need stand
in your place for you to ever be saved and accepted of God.
And those of you who have trusted in Him for some time now, I ask
you, has He ever failed you? Has Christ ever forgotten you?
Well, He can't. You're a part of Him. Christ
can't forget me. I'm part of Him. I belong to
Him. He's faithful. He's faithful
in all things. He's the truth of God. God's
not a man that He should lie. He said that Himself. He's not
the son of man that He should repent. That word means change
His mind. Hath He said it and shall He
not do it? Yes, He will. Hath He spoken
and shall He not make it good? You better believe He will. Friends,
you and I have been weighed in the balances and we've been found
wanting. We've come up way, way short. All of a sudden, Paul writing
to Philemon concerning his runaway slave Onesimus. You remember
that story? He had run away from home and
had joined himself to Paul in prison and God saved him and
revealed the gospel. Read that story. That's a beautiful
story. That's my story. I am Onesimus. This is one little
page in the Bible. Read it at your convenience. But Paul writing to Philemon
concerning his runaway slave Onesimus who had stolen from
him, he wrote to him and he said, if he's wronged you, if he owes you anything, you put
that on my account. That's what Christ has done for
us, his people. He put our sin debt on his own
personal account. And he paid the bill in full. Can you see this morning past
the vault of heaven and see that which was opened up to John?
Can you see your champion? He's called the captain of your
salvation. The one who has made you perfect
through his sufferings according to Hebrews 2. And there are some
here this morning that have been struggling Some of you with sickness. Some with family matters. Some
with the loss of a loved one. Some of you are struggling with
your sin. God is convicting you. God is
showing you. God is teaching you. You know
that you need Christ. Be of good cheer. Jesus Christ
is faithful and true. The word interpreted faithful
in the original Greek language means trustworthy. One who can
be relied upon and trusted. One who's constant. One who's
true. One who's devoted. We all want
friends like that. Dependable. Reliable. Steadfast. When you have a friend like that,
oh, you've got something. My dad told me one time, if you
can count friends like that on one hand, son, you're a success.
I suppose that's so. Jesus Christ is such a friend
to sinners. Most church-going folks today
believe that they're faithful and that that counts for something.
That God rewards and helps those who help themselves. But man's
salvation has never been about our faithfulness. It never has
been. Salvation has never been for those that can help themselves,
but for those who cannot help themselves. Salvation has always
been about Christ's faithfulness. His faithfulness to God. His
faithfulness to God's law. His faithfulness to God's justice. His faithfulness to God's people.
Not my faithfulness to Him. Jesus Christ is faithful and
true. And the word true means right. It means in accordance with the
facts. It means what really actually
happened. That's what preaching is. It's
telling sinners what really actually happened. God for no reason outside
of Himself made the heavens and the earth. And Jesus Christ,
He is the Creator of all things. Scripture is clear about that.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit said, let's
make man in our own image, after our likeness, and let him have
dominion over all. And that's exactly what God did.
He created man, made woman out of man, and God gave them and
provided for man and his wife everything, every single thing
that they needed. Everything for them freely provided
for. And God gave them one law, one
commandment, one thing to restrain from. And Eve, being tempted,
was convinced of the serpent that God didn't want them to
eat of that tree because they themselves would become gods.
And boy, that sounded good. They were no good and evil, Genesis
3-5. And man failed the test. Man
fell and man died. And by one man sin entered into
the world. And death by sin. And so death
passed upon all men. And that's where we sit this
morning. Dead in trespasses and sin. And it was then that God
promised a Savior, the seed of a woman. And that seed, my friends,
was Christ. God said, there's one coming
who will crush the serpent's head. And all through the Old
Testament Scriptures, we see pictures and parables and illustrations
and types of the one who would come to save God's people from
their sin. And I'm telling you, He's come.
What think ye of Christ? Do you have any interest in being
one of those? Do you feel a need for Christ?
Do you need a substitute to put your sin away? If you do, that's
proof enough that you're one of His. I said this in the first
hour and I'll say it again. Election doesn't shut anyone
out of redemption. It never has. Election assures
salvation for those that God chose and gave to Christ. You
know why? Because God is faithful and true.
And His electing of a sinner assures that sinner's salvation
for those whom He chose, He called. And those whom He called, He
justified. And those whom He justified,
He will glorify. And if God chose you, you won't
be able to resist His effectual call. Now don't get me wrong,
you ain't gonna kick and scream all the way into glory either.
You're gonna willingly come. but you're going to be made willing
in the day of His power. But by nature, none of us will
come, and none of us can come. And it's not your faith, and
it's not your faithfulness that saves you. It's the faith of
Christ. We know that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Christ. Not even
faith in Christ. Because then men will start trusting
in their faith. Faith's the gift of God. Even
when we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified
by the faith of Christ. Not faith in Christ. And not
by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Why? Because the law was weak
through the flesh, and that's our flesh. We can't keep the
law. So the law can't save anybody. I know I'm saved by grace through
faith, and that grace and that faith both are the gift of God. It's not by works. Paul said,
lest anyone should boast. He knew man would. What a signal
and alarm it should be to us when we hear men boast about
their faith. If man is boasting in his faith, then his salvation
is not of God. It's not our faith in Christ
that saves us, it's the faith of Christ that does. How does
all this help me, preacher? I mean, really, how does it help
me? You know, I've got some health issues. I've got some personal
family issues. I'm having a difficult time getting
over some things. Jesus Christ is faithful and
true. Cast all your care and your concern on Him, for He careth
for you. Turn back a few pages to Hebrews
11 with me, and I'll begin to wind this down. Oftentimes we've
talked over the years about Abraham and Sarah. Most everyone is familiar
with their story and their situation. God promised them a child. They
couldn't have children. God promised them a child. And
through that child would come the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. But Abraham and Sarah were old.
At 100 his body was dead and at 90 her womb was now barren,
of course, but God had promised. And do you know what? God is
faithful and true. And here in verse 11 of Hebrews
11, we read, Through faith, also Sarah herself, not Hagar, her
handmaid. They tried that, it didn't work.
But Sarah herself received strength. Where did that come from? From
He who's faithful and true. Sarah herself received strength
to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past
age, beyond the years of childbirth. How? Well, we have the answer
right here. Because she judged. Now that word judged there means
deemed or counted or esteemed Him, the Lord, the Lord God,
faithful. You see that? Because she judged
Him, God, faithful, who had promised. The writer of Hebrews just seems
to burst into praise here, and he says, Therefore spring there
even of one, and him as good as dead, a hundred years old,
speaking of Abraham, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude,
and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. God gave
them a child, and through him Abraham's seed was multiplied
as the sand of the beach and the stars in the sky. And this
was God's promise to Abraham, and God is faithful that promised.
Let God be true and ever man a liar, the scripture says. And
this is why the same writer in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 23 says,
let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.
And then he says, for he is faithful that promised. Now why should
we never waver? God's unwavering. Christ is always
successful. He's faithful and promised. And
God has made many promises to those who trust in Him. The question
is, do you trust in Him? He's faithful and true. You can
trust Him. You can. David said, what time
I'm afraid, I'll trust in Thee. In God I will praise His Word. In God I have put my trust. I
will not be afraid what man, what flesh can do unto me. I'm
convinced that there are some here this morning that God intends
to save. I really do. There are some of
you here this morning that know that you're hearing the truth
about God. It's not the same message or the same God that
you've heard before. The God we preach is sovereign.
That simply means that He's God. He's in control. He does what
He wills in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And none, nobody can stay His hand or say unto Him,
what doest thou? That's the God that we serve.
That's the God that we preach. The God we preach is in the heavens.
and He does whatsoever He pleases. He has mercy on whom He'll have
mercy. Does that make Him a tyrant?
Does that make Him unfair? No! He still has mercy. It's just on whom He wants to.
He has that prerogative as God. The God we preach works all things
together for good to them that love God. Do you love God? If you hate God, why would He
work all things together for your good? Who are these that
God works all things together for good for? Well, He calls
them the called. The called. They're a specific,
particular people. They are the called. The called
according to what? His purpose. God didn't call
us according to our purpose. Our purpose is to run to hell
as fast as we can. You know it's so, and so do I.
God chose and called some on purpose. I believe that includes
some of you. I really do. There's a man in this church,
I won't mention his name, but I was talking to him one day
and was encouraged by the turnout that we had, and he said, I believe
God's gonna save every one of them. Amen, brother, I do too. That's the way we need to believe,
isn't it? God is able and He's faithful and true. God save them
all. You say to yourself, I don't
think I can live up to what God expects. Guess what? You can't.
You can't. Because God expects perfection. You can't be good enough, and
your good will never be good enough for God to accept you. But our acceptance has never
been about us living up to what God expects. Sinners are accepted
only one way. according as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated,
predetermined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself. Why? According to the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise and the glory of God's grace, wherein
we are accepted in the Beloved, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you're accepted in and by and through the perfect righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, guess what? You cannot be lost. You
can't be lost by something that you do or something that you
fail to do. There's some assurance there,
is there not? If I can save myself, I'd be
constantly worried that I'd do something to get lost. But when
Christ worked out a perfect righteousness for me, God accepted it and He
accepted it forever. You believe one saved, always
say, if God saved me, yes. You can't work your way to salvation.
Your hands withered and your feet are lame. You can't look
and live your all bowed over like that woman in the temple
was. You can in no wise lift yourself up. Like Bartimaeus,
you can't see. Like the man at Nain's Gate,
you're dead in trespasses and sins. Like the lunatic, you're
thrown and tossed to and fro, sometimes in the fire to burn,
sometimes in the water to drink. And if I'm describing you, Christ
Himself says, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him
that believeth. Well, the question is, can I
believe? Only if God enables me. So I'm
shut right back up again to His mercy and grace. Don't you think
it'd be a good idea to hit our knees and say, Lord, have mercy
on me. It's God that must do a miraculous
work of grace in your life. Do you see that you're totally
dependent upon God? If not, God's not yet brought
you where you must be brought. Just keep crying. Keep petitioning
His throne of grace. Keep begging for His mercy. They told Bartimaeus, they told
him shut up. They just flat said shut up.
And I love what the Scriptures say. They said he cried all the
morning. He just mourned eternally. He said, Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me. They said, would you shut up?
You're just an old beggar. Just shut up. He said, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. They said, be quiet. He
said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And the scripture
says, and Jesus stood still. And he commanded him to be calm.
Bartimaeus couldn't see, but he could cry. Can you cry? Oh,
may God enable you to cry. Oh, I want my message this morning
to be a comfort to you. Jesus Christ is faithful and
true. And whether it's temptation,
or trial, or trouble, understand this, there's no temptation taking
you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who
will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able,
but will with the temptation, will with the adversity, will
with the trial, also make a way of escape that you may be able
to bear. Oh, God's weaning us from this
world. He is. Because this is not our home.
And if God is chastening you, remember, for whom the Lord loveth,
He chasteneth. And if God enabled you to endure
this chastening, these trials, these afflictions that He sends,
then God is dealing with you as children. Isn't that amazing? For what child, what son, what
daughter are they whom the Father corrects not? And you parents
know something about that. Children are still trying to
figure it out. It took me a long time. My mom said, I'm going
to spank you because I love you. I'm like, I don't know about
that. But the Lord does chase us because He loves us. Right? Oh, how I pray right now and
ask the Lord to reveal Himself to you. Jesus Christ is faithful
and true. Faithful to do for me what I
cannot do for myself, and faithful and true to His Word that He
is faithful and true that promised. What He promised me He'll do,
He'll do. What a friend we have in Jesus.