I've been doing something a little
bit different. I've been carrying an electronic
Bible, but I always have a backup because the battery doesn't always
agree with me. So I'm going to put my backup
right there. It's a blessing to be with you
folks. We're so thankful for the safety
that the Lord gave us in travel and the fellowship that we've
enjoyed, and also for the preaching. My goodness, I've just been blessed
by the preaching. We've not known you directly
as long as these other pastors have, but we've known you indirectly
for 39 years. Thirty-nine years ago this coming
January, the pastor of this church traveled all the way out to Oregon,
not knowing what he'd find and who would gather, but I was privileged
to hear the gospel for the first time in my life when I heard
him preach. And my reaction to hearing that
gospel was, the next morning, I told my wife, I hate that man.
And I was serious. Because he told me that my free
will, he didn't directly tell me, but he told me my free will
belief in a Jesus was not sufficient. And I hated that message. Anyway,
the Lord prospered and allowed me to go back and go back. I
couldn't stop. And sometime later, the Lord
was blessed to save me. I praise him for it. And it wasn't
very long, I called up Brother Henry and said, I know what you're
talking about. And he told me later, he says,
Norm, of all those people that were gathered out there, you're
the only one that ever returned and said a word about it. I said,
well, that's good for me. I'm going to direct your attention
to a couple of passages in the Old Testament and then I would
like to go to the book of Revelation that Brother Tim read. I'm not
going to spend all my time on all those verse by verse but
there is a verse I'd like to look at. Would you join me in
the book of Isaiah this morning, Isaiah chapter 53? And those
brethren last night, Isaiah 53 came up in their messages. What
a glorious statement about the gospel of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ is brought out here in the book of Isaiah. And in
Isaiah chapter 53, we read there in verse 2, Isaiah chapter 53
and verse 2, these words. Now this is my natural, this
is our natural, it's your natural view of Jesus Christ. This is
what we're born with. We can't help it. But we're born
with this reality, and we hate to face the truth about it, but
God in His grace brings us to the truth about this very subject.
For it tells us, For he shall grow up, and we know that he
is the Lord Jesus Christ, shall grow up before him as a tender
plant, as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. We're like magnets. Have you
ever used a magnet and pushed it around on a table, and then
you turn it around and you stick on it? Well, by nature, we are
repelled by the glory and holiness of God Almighty. We are like
Adam wanting to hide ourselves in the garden. We want to cover
ourselves with fig leaves, and here it is, by the grace of God,
He comes to us and He draws us with cords of love, and we're
stuck on Him. and we thank him. Well, Song
of Solomon, very next chapter, book here, the Song of Solomon,
backup one. Glad I have my backup. Song of Solomon there in Chapter
5. Song of Solomon in Chapter 5.
Now, in the Song of Solomon, Chapter 5, the church is asked
a very important question. And it's almost like us always
be ready to give a reason for the account of the Lord Jesus.
Always And this is mentioned here in the Song of Solomon chapter
five, and it says there in verse nine, and what is thy beloved
more than another beloved? What's so important about this
one you keep talking about? What's so important about this
one that you keep leaning on? What's this one so important
that you keep bringing up? Every time we talk, we talk about
Him. What's so important? Goes on,
O thou fairest among women, what is thy beloved more than another
beloved? And thou hast so charged us. You know, to us in our religious
growing up time, it doesn't matter. Which beloved is another beloved?
We just get, and we get, I don't know how many times I traded
theology because I heard another story, another account, another
something. Oh, that's okay. I'll go over
there. Well, she said, my beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest
among 10,000. No, that's just the figurative
language saying he's the best there is. He's the only one. And then his head is the most
fine gold. And you know, I've had people
look at this and they tried to paint this picture. Don't ever
do that. This description is for word description. It's not
for artistic description. You'll get a grotesque vision.
view, but always read this and say, I want the sublimest view
of my savior. And the scriptures are full with
this, the sublimest view of the savior who saved his people from
their sins. His head is most fine gold. His locks are bushy. and his
black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves
by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly set. His
cheeks are as the bed of spices, as sweet flowers." On and on
this description goes. And if we look into this, we
find out just how precious this one is to his church, how precious
in every aspect. There's not an area that the
Lord It is not precious to the church. Everywhere we look, he
is precious to us. We have nothing else. I remember
Brother Henry saying, Christ is the issue. And I kept, oh
my goodness, every time he said that. What does he mean, Christ
is the issue about everything? Well, when the Lord saved me,
I understood what He was talking about. Christ is the issue. There is no other issue to debate.
I don't have any other issue to talk about. I went to the
dows, and I announced, and the first time I was there, I only
have one message. You know, four or five years
later, a lady that was there came up to me and says, I thought
you were only going to preach from one verse all that time.
I said, well, no, I don't do that, but I'm going to preach
one message, and that's the message of Christ. All right, it goes
on and tells us, his cheeks are as a bed of spices as sweet flowers,
his lips like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh, his hands
are as gold rings set with beryl, his belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires, his legs are as the pillars of marble
set among the sockets of fine gold, his countenance is as lebanon
excellent as the cedars. And you know, to the ladies that
this lady is talking to, they cannot comprehend what she's
saying. How can you put all of that together
and get something good out of it? She is saying, he, as it
tells us there in verse, his mouth is most sweet, yea, he
is altogether lovely. That's the view for the church.
There's not an aspect about the Lord Jesus Christ that is not
beautiful to the church. There is not an aspect about
the Lord Jesus Christ that's not an encouragement to the church.
There's not an aspect about the Lord Jesus Christ that is not
fulfilling to the church. This Christ that has been portrayed
and preached on for the centuries is the only hope for Israel. the Israel of God. So join me
now, if you would, over in the book of Revelation. Brother Tim
read this chapter at my request, but I would like to look at one
verse in here, and that is found in verse 17. In verse 17. Now this book of Revelation used
to be a hidden book to me. And you know, you go to these
seminars and these religious places and they're going to teach
on the book of Revelation. And boy, they preached it and
scared you to death. And their only motive was to
scare you into hell. I mean, scare you into heaven.
Avoid hell, scare you. And you know, that's not the
purpose of the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is the
revelation of Jesus Christ. Now that word revelation in verse
one, it really helped me when I found out that Simeon, that
took hold of my savior, There, after he had come to the temple,
took a hold of him, and lifted him up, he used the same word
that that word revelation is translated here in our English
Bible, and that is apokalipso. And in the book of Luke, he said,
a light to lighten the Gentiles. And I saw that, and I says, my
goodness, that changed the whole book. This is a light to lighten
the Gentiles. This is for our pleasure. This
is for our encouragement. There's not a scary note in here
if you're in Christ. He is always the victor. He's
the one that comes out and vanquishes the enemy Every time, and that's
what he does in our life. So this is so portrayal of what
we deal with. Every time the enemy rises, we
have one to vanquish him. Some people I've heard say, my
goodness, I've won over the devil. You can't. The only way we can
is by the blood of the Lamb. And we have that. He vanquishes
all the enemies, sin, death, hell, and the grave by His blood. So it's so important. He is our
revelation. He is our lighten to lighten
the Gentiles. Now in this description here,
we must say again that, and I have a chart. I was given a chart.
Probably you preachers were given a chart too. a chart about the
book of Revelation, and they made such a grotesque picture
of this description of our Savior. Grotesque. Can you imagine the
being that is mentioned here with a sword coming out of his
mouth? And they thought, what is that? We know what that is.
That's his word. He declared his word. He is the
only person ever on this earth that could declare himself and
be right. He's the only one that preached
himself and could be of help to anybody. I am the way, the
truth and the life. What help that is to us in our
life. He's the way. He's the truth. He's the life. He is our hope. So it vanquishes all the enemy. And then it tells us through
this description as given to him, as given to John, it said
here in verse 17, And when I saw him. When I saw him. It goes on to tell us, I fell
at his feet as dead. That's a better reaction than
most people have when they say they saw something. I had a lady tell me one time
she was hanging the clothes on the clothesline and she looked
up and there was Jesus. What do you say about that? I
said, well, that's not what the Bible says. Jesus is revealed
in the word of God and only in the word of God. The appearance
of divine person in any degree of majesty and glory has had
some considerable effect on our mind. When he is revealed, It
has a tremendous effect on us. It affects us from top to bottom. Do you know that we have a problem
from top to bottom? From the very head to the feet,
we are only rottenness in the mind of God. And when God reveals
Himself to us, we are caused to be revealed that truth. We're rottenness from top to
bottom. What would cause God to ever come and deal with us
in His grace? Only His grace. All right, it
says here that he saw him, when I saw him, what a privilege.
John, he fell at his feet with the appearance of being dead.
What a glorious and gracious act of God to allow John to see
him, allow you to see him, allow me to see him. What a gracious
act of God that we would be permitted to see the Most High God as John
did there. Now John spent some time, three
and a half years with Him, and yet when he saw Him in this glory,
He fell at his feet as dead. He was so moved about this appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ to him that he fell at his feet as dead. And what does that mean? He knew
that he was before a holy God and there is no reason that he
should ever have any relationship with this most holy God except
because of the grace of God. There was only one movement,
and that's God's movement towards him. He did not deserve to be
here. He did not merit to be here.
But by the grace of God, he was there, and God showed him himself. And he fell at his feet with
the reverence of God and with the knowledge that God saves
sinners. John was perfectly overwhelmed
by what he saw in the Lord Jesus Christ. John was permitted to
see Him in all His divine perfections. And you know, every time the
Word of God is read and preached, we get to hear a little bit more
about His divine perfections, about His glorious being. We get to relish and delight.
We bow before Him and say, what honorable thing God provided
for me today. I got to see Him again in His
glory. We grow in grace and in the knowledge
doesn't mean we get smarter, we just get to see more. No,
we have everything. When God saves us, we have everything,
all perfect salvation. But he is pleased from time to
time to reveal some of what he has given us. And we walk away
and say, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. I got to see
him. I saw him. John was just overwhelmed. He was overpowered with the greatness
and the luster of the glory of Christ. And we must admit that
the description of the Lord in symbolism, if we tried to paint
that, we would have a grotesque view. But when we get to hear
it. That's why it's so important to hear the word of God. When
we get to hear it, we see him in his glory. Now, much of it
is we can't define it. Can you explain the grace of
God? Can you explain the holiness of God? No, but we believe it
because it's revealed in his word to our heart. And we walk
away and say, you know, I don't know everything about it, but
I know it's true. We look here, we find that knowing
a few things about Jesus, historical things, I've been talking to
a young preacher for the last four and a half years, almost
every Wednesday. I met him in a sporting goods
store. I sold him a rifle. And we're waiting for the paperwork
to go through, and he's in the back of the store. And I went
back there, and he said, I don't tell everybody this, but I'm
a pastor. And I says, I want to tell you something. I don't
tell anybody this. I'm a pastor. Oh, yeah. You know, they're going
to treat you differently. Oh, they got to tell you their
holiness, their self-righteousness, their good deeds, what they've
been doing, who they support. I had one man tell me, he says,
we don't give Christmas gifts anymore. We send it all to missionaries. And I thought, oh, why did I
hear that? Anyway, I said, do you like coffee?
And he said, yeah. And I said, well, let's meet
for coffee. Well, he is just like me. He told me one time,
he says, Norm, I'd like to met you before you are what you are.
And I said, I'm looking at him. I'm looking at myself when Henry
found me with the gospel. And we've talked and he is free
will to the core. And I said, I know what you're
talking about. Twist the scriptures. doesn't seek God, doesn't seek
Christ, and then goes ahead and preaches, and I know exactly
what that was like. I pray that someday God will strike a chord
with him, that he'll be able to see him, see the Lord. Most people, and this young man
believes, that if you believe some historical facts about the
Lord, that puts you in the kingdom. I believe Jesus went to the cross.
I believe I'm a sinner. I believe this. You know, nothing
could be so far from the truth. We are looking at what we know,
and when he saves us, we see him. We're left out of the equation. The only thing that we bring
to the table is our sin. That's the only thing we have.
There is no merit. There is nothing we have. The
only thing we bring to the table is our sin. So if we are looking
for a few facts, we find that the scriptures tell us some things.
Would you turn with me to the book of John chapter seven? I
hope this is fresh water. John chapter seven, verse 11,
if you turn there with me. The scriptures are filled with
people's views of the Lord Jesus. And they are so varied. And to
some of the people, their belief that they know Him in this condition,
in this circumstance, in this position, that that clears them
before God. That they have a historical view,
that they have a human view of Christ, and that puts them in
the kingdom. It does not. Having a historical view of Christ,
believing that Jesus is on this earth doesn't give us inside
track to heaven. There is nothing in that knowledge. It is always human knowledge,
and we need something far beyond that. We need to see him. All right. In the book of John
chapter 7 and verse 11, these words are given for us for our
hearing And for Lord, give us some understanding. John 7 verse
11, it says, then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, where
is he? And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him.
For some said, notice what they said. Some said he's a good man. Have you ever heard that? I've
even said it in my religious days. He's a good man. Oh my
goodness. We don't even know what we're
saying, do we? And then it says, nay, but he deceiveth the people. There's a group of people say
he's a deceiver. Some of them say he's a good
man. Howbeit, no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
Now, and then in Matthew, would you turn with me to the book
of Matthew chapter 13, as we find another statement about
this historical one that did not change their hearts one moment,
did not change their view of God. In Matthew chapter 13, verse
55, We read these words, Matthew chapter 13 and verse 55, and
it says, Is not this the carpenter's son? Well, that's true. He was a stepson
of Joseph. He was a carpenter by trade,
but that's not saving knowledge. Is not his mother called Mary?
Yep, yep, you got that right. Her name is Mary. And his brethren? His brothers. We know his brothers,
Joseph and Simeon and Judas and James. And his sisters are here.
No, all of these are facts of history. They are facts about
the Lord Jesus. But these are not saving facts. These are only truths about Him. But to know Him, we must see
Him. We cannot just see facts about
Him. We must see Him. You know, as in the book of Joshua,
chapter 5, one of my favorite passages of scripture is when
Joshua is surveying the city of Jericho. And he's out there
as a good leader should be. He's surveying, preparing to
go up against Jericho. That's the first battle they're
going to fight in taking this land that floweth with milk and
honey. And yet in the book of Joshua chapter five, we read
this, that someone else was there surveying Jericho. Someone else
was there in preparation for what lay ahead. And this someone
else that was there had all the answers and had all what was
necessary and said, you're not going to raise one sword against
the city of Jericho. I'm going to win it for you."
Well, let's hear here in the book of Joshua chapter 5 and
verse 13 what Joshua saw. It says here in verse 13 of the
book of Joshua, and it came to pass Joshua was by Jericho. What an honorable captain. What an honorable general. He's
out there taking the risk in preparation for taking Jericho. And behold, there stood a man
over against him with a sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua
went unto him and said unto him, Aren't thou for us or for our
adversaries? You know, at this moment, Joshua
had no idea in this world who this one was. Are you for us? Are you against us? Are you for
Jericho? Are you out here to defeat me
before we even start the battle? And then it says, he said, nay,
but as captain of the hosts of the Lord, I am now come. And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth and did worship and said unto him, what saith my
Lord unto his servant? There was a revelation about
this one that did not come just because Joshua asked him a question. It would please God to reveal
himself unto Joshua at this time. It pleased God to reveal Joshua
that he was the captain of the Lord's host and he's gonna instruct
him on what's gonna take place at Jericho. You know, there's
only one battle in all the taking of Israel that I find that Israel
lost any people. And that was at Ai. And the rest
of the time, there was no graves. They won every battle because
the Lord won it for them. All right, as we look at this,
we find, art thou for us or art thou against us? And I'm captain
of the Lord's host. Another one of my favorite verses
about this great subject of seeing the Lord is in Isaiah chapter
six. What a statement is made. In
the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. And it wasn't a historical
Lord. It wasn't just a printed Lord.
It was a Lord that was high and lifted up and sat on a throne. That's how he reveals himself
to us as one of authority. I love what is written about
the Lord Jesus by those Pharisees. He speaks with authority and
not as a scribe. You know, the scribes didn't
believe what they were saying. Have you ever been around somebody
that didn't believe what they were saying? They were just mouthing it. Well,
when the Lord spoke, He spoke with authority as someone who
knew what it was all about. He was the revealer of the truth
of God. So in Isaiah chapter six, it
says, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. And you know what
they said? Those angels said, holy, holy,
holy. That's how he's revealed. That's what John saw in the book
of Revelation chapter one, the holy one. of Israel. Holy, holy,
holy. In his thrice holiness, in his
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost holiness, he revealed himself unto Isaiah,
and Isaiah said, woe is me, for I have seen the Lord. Oh, we
as believers can say that every day. Woe is me, I've seen the
Lord. If it wasn't for him, I'd be
in hell. If it wasn't for him, I'd be
in my religious life. I was moving up the ladder in
religion, moving up the ladder, looking for those bigger churches,
more salary, and everything else, and the Lord saved me, and you
know what? He knocked that all out of me. He said, you're not
in this for yourself. You're in this for me. We are
declares of the gospel. Ezekiel brings up the same thing.
When he speaks there in Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 28, would you
turn there with me? Book of Ezekiel chapter 1 verse
28, it says, Ezekiel got to see him. He's far above just some
information. He's far above just some knowledge. He's far above a historical fact. He's far above just being, do
you believe this about Jesus? Do you believe that about Jesus?
Do you believe that about Jesus? Okay, you're in, we'll baptize
you. Recently, a young person, he's 21 or 22 years old now,
Nancy and I had him in school. We were teachers and we had him
in class. And he is a nice young man. And I got to know him a
little bit later in life, and his mother passed away. And he's
heartbroken about that. I was heartbroken when my mother
passed away, and I wasn't 20 years old. He was. And you know,
his mother and his father both told him something. And he came
to me one day and said, Norm, I need to be baptized. And I said, you know, before
we do that, we need to have a conversation. And we started with John 1, and
we're at John 12 on Saturday mornings going through the book
of John. And he has already told me, now
I know why you just didn't baptize me. Now, several people have
said, Norm, that young man should count. Very fortunate, because
he was prime material for somebody in town to put another mark in
their baptismal record and not know a thing about the gospel. I love what Paul said, I came
not to baptize. That's not his purpose. He came
to preach the gospel. Now, when that arises, we do
it, but we isn't our purpose. Well, here in the book of Ezekiel
chapter one, verse 28, It says, as the appearance of
a bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance
of the brightness round about. This was the appearance and likeness
of the glory of the Lord. That is one thing you will know,
be able to say, I can't explain it all, but I saw the glory of
the Lord. It was he that gets all the glory. It is he that rises above all
things. And then it goes on, and when
I saw it, I fell on my face and heard the voice of one that spake. We don't care about what men
have to say. We care what the Bible has to say. The Bible is
the truth. We don't care what theology has
to say. We don't care what our groups
have to say. We don't care what the deacons
have to say. If it doesn't agree with the Word of God, it is the
Word that is precious to us. We believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ. You know, the Apostle Peter,
was put into a position to speak for the church one time when
Jesus asked those disciples, who do you say, who do men say
that I am? And you know they heard, they
heard all those stories. And you look at what they had
to say about who Jesus was and that's nonsense. Reincarnation? They didn't believe in reincarnation.
But they said, well, some say that you're one of the prophets
come back or John the Baptist or come back. And how stupid
is that? They weren't thinking at all,
but they were thinking this is all we can come up with. And
then Jesus did us a favor. You know, I have to say this.
When I read the book of Acts, Chapter two, by faith I'm as
being there. I don't have to go see bells
and whistles. The Word of God is so clear and
clearly revealed that we are as we were there when those things
happened, and we consent to them with our soul. This is so good. This is so right, what was happening
on that day. I agree with the preaching of
Peter on that day. I agree with what happened on
that day. I agree what it said there in Acts 13, 48. And those
that were ordained to eternal life, they believed. We agree. And here we read about the Lord
speaking to Peter and he says, Peter, who do you say that I
am? Now, Peter wasn't put on the
spot because he knew. He didn't have to come up with
a decision. I wonder, I wonder, man, that's
a hard question. He said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And Jesus spoke up and said,
Flesh and blood did not reveal this unto you, but my Father
which is in heaven. So this knowledge that Peter
had was not something that he learned in Sabbath school or
Sunday school or from some preacher or some other thing. It was not
historical facts that he's bringing up. He's not recounting something
that he learned somewhere or something that he read in a theology
book. This is fact that the God of heaven revealed unto him.
My Father has revealed this unto you. You couldn't come up with
this on your own. It is impossible for you to know
this on your own. But my father revealed this unto
you, and we find that very thing throughout the scriptures here.
John, it says, we believe that thou, and sure that thou art
the Christ, the son of the living God. Another time, I believe
that thou art the Christ, the son of God. You know, when Jesus
came to Lazarus' tomb, his sister said, we believe you're the Christ.
And whatever you do, And John 20 verse 31, would you
turn there with me? John 20 verse 31. We have this wonderful statement
made. Why is it written? Why do we
have this? Why do we have this? John answers
that question for us. The Holy Spirit answers that
question for us. He said there, but these are
written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His
name. Last week, my oldest son and
a couple of friends went elk hunting. And a friend of my oldest
son, who has the same name, Nathan, came back in with a piece of
petrified wood that he'd found. Now, we ask more questions about
rockhounding than we do about spiritual things. Do you know
that? Because the first thing I asked Nathan, where did you
find that? I'd walk that same area and never
saw it. Where did you find that? You know, in spiritual things,
we never ask, where did you get that? Where did you get your belief?
Where did you get your repentance? Where did you get your hope?
And the believer has to say, from Christ, from God. Don't have it on my own. It's
all impossible. It is plagued with sin of the
fall. So I must depend on something
much higher than that, the faith of Jesus Christ. Repentance,
which is God-given change of mind. All of these things must
come from God. John chapter 20, 31, thou art
the Christ, the Son of God. And then finally, if you turn
with me to the book of Hebrews chapter one. The book of Hebrews
chapter one, we read here in verse two through five, and with
this, we'll close. Hebrews chapter one, verse two. God has spoken in these last
days, He's spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds. There's not
a discussion in a believer's mind about where this world came
from. Not a discussion. And you know what? When God reveals
where this world comes from, we also understand that we must
have Him as the creator of our new life. He must be the resurrector
of our new life. We cannot come up with it on
our own. He's the creator of heavens and earth. We are a new
creation in Christ Jesus. He has to be the generator of
our new life. We can't do it on our own. by
whom he made the worlds, who being in the brightness of his
glory, and he expressed image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. being made so much better than
the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. For unto which of the angels
said he at that any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee, and again I will be to him a father, and he shall be
to me a son. As he reveals himself unto us,
we find out that he has purged our sin. Oh, the old religions used to
scare us to death. You're going to have to answer
for that sin. Going to the dance, playing cards, playing dominoes. You're going to have to answer
for that sin. Those guys didn't know a thing about what they
were talking about, or they wouldn't have been saying that. Because
if your sins have been purged, he took all that punishment on
himself, and as Brother Gary brought up in that poem, he's
not going to take it out on us again. He is the successful Savior. And John said, when I saw him.