We'll stay right there in Revelation
where Brother David just read the first eight verses to us.
I don't know that I'll get through all eight verses in this message.
I'm in no hurry. I hope you're not either. I told
somebody I don't want to get bogged down, but I don't want
to overlook something that the Lord has for us as His people. In this book, over the years,
of studying the Bible and preaching, two things that I've learned
from studying this particular letter, the revelation, and if
you, in the King James Version, it says the revelation of Saint
John the Divine, it's really the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Two of the things that I've learned is, number one, that if the Lord,
in His grace and power, does not keep me, preserve me, then
I'm hopeless. And the second thing is this,
my only hope, again by His power and grace, is to cling to Christ. Last week I preached upon the
meaning of the word revelation and then applied it to this book,
Today I want to preach on this subject, a glorious revelation. And that's what this is. It's
a glorious uncovering. That's what the word revelation
means. Manifestation. Showing forth things that are
hidden until God reveals them. And it's the glorious revelation
of Jesus Christ. That's the first phrase in verse
1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ. This book... Somebody said that the most common
question, or the most common answer to
the question about the book of Revelation, what do you see in
Revelation, or what question do you have when you consider
the book of Revelation? The most common question that
people come up with is, who is the Antichrist? When what they ought to be asking
is, who is the true Christ? Because that's what this book
is about. This book, this letter, is a
revelation from Jesus Christ to his church, and it's a revelation
of Jesus Christ to his church. That's what it's about. And that's
the key, really, to understanding all of the metaphors and the
types and the pictures and the symbols and the numbers and all
of that in the book of Revelation. As I said last week, this book
is about the glory of his person. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God
manifest in the flesh. And this is stated out so clearly
both in plain language and in symbols. Jesus Christ is God-man. Fully God in every attribute
of deity and fully man in every attribute of humanity without
sin. What a glorious person. we worship. What a glorious person we trust. What a glorious person in whose
hands is our salvation. Is there any doubt that he's
able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him?
No doubt at all. He's able. We're not able, but
he is. And then this book is about the
power and the success of his finished work. The righteousness
of God revealed in the gospel. That's what this book is about.
What did he do when he died on the cross? The Bible says he
put away our sins. Those sins that were charged
to his account. He drank damnation dry and he
brought forth a perfect everlasting righteousness. by which God is
just to justify sinners like us. His righteousness imputed. And then this book is about the
trials, the persecutions, and thank God, the security of his
church in the last days. The days of the new covenant
in which we live today, which began at the cross. and His resurrection
and His ascension unto glory, and which will end when He comes
again. So that's what the book of Revelation is about. It says
the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto Him, given
to Him by God the Father. And that doesn't deny the deity
of Christ. It simply shows the submission
of the Son of God to the Father for the purpose of our salvation
unto glory. He submitted himself in covenant
to the Father, the Son of God, who is equal with the Father
and the Spirit in every attribute of deity. He submitted himself. He made himself of no reputation,
the book of Philippians says, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. that He might redeem us from
our sins. He's the one mediator between
God and sinners. He's equal with the Father and
the Spirit, but He also became a servant. He was made like unto
us, the Bible says. His children, His brethren, yet
without sin. You see, in order to be saved,
in order to be justified, in order to be secure, we need the
righteousness of God. Not the righteousness of man.
And in order to be saved, in order to be justified, we need
one who could take our place and die for our sins. Well, Christ is both. He is God,
man, God who could bring forth an everlasting, perfect righteousness,
and man who could die to bring that about. And that's what he
did. Listen to this. I'll read this
to you. This is John 12. Verse 49, Christ said, for I've
not spoken of myself, but the father which sent me, he gave
me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.
Now he knew this, his will and the father's will the same. He
wanted to say, he went on to say, and I know that his commandment
is life everlasting, whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the
father said unto me, so I speak. It says here in verse 1, the
revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him, to show unto
his servants things which must shortly come to pass. Christ
is the mediator and the revealer of God, for he is God. In Matthew chapter 11 and verse
20, Five, he says, no man knoweth the Son, save the Father, and
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him. He said, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, thee only, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. You're not going to know God
as a heavenly Father, except through the Son. Except through
Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness. No man has seen the Father. No
man can approach unto the Father. No man can be accepted of the
Father. No man can be justified by the
Father, except through this glorious person, Jesus Christ crucified
and risen from the dead, the Lord our righteousness. And this is to his churches. Under the gospel millennium,
You hear that word millennium. People go crazy about that and
they think about a literal thousand years. We're living in the gospel
millennium, folks. Right now. The new covenant. Beginning with the cross work
of Christ, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension unto
glory. And it says in here, in verse
one, he said, things which must shortly come to pass. They must
come to pass. Now, why must they come to pass?
I'll tell you why. Because God, before the foundation
of the world, ordained it. He ordained it so. Think about this. Think about
the progression of things as we see them and as we read about
them in the word of God. In the Old Testament, during
the time of the Old Testament. Do you know the Gentile world
was generally under darkness? Deceived by Satan. But at the
death of Christ, Satan was bound. Remember Christ said in John
12, he said the prince of this world is cast out, he was bound.
And that new covenant, which was established in the death,
burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, was inaugurated at
Pentecost. Remember when Peter preached
at Pentecost, and the Spirit was poured out according to the
prophecy of the prophet Joel in Joel 2? Well, if you read
about that in Acts 2, you see the Spirit was poured out in
a miraculous way. The gospel was preached in languages
that people heard and understood, and God saved 3,000 souls. What an outpouring. That was
the inauguration of the new covenant. The gospel millennium, right
there. And you know what happened? The church almost immediately
came under severe persecution over the gospel. Many of these preachers, the
apostles, the evangelists, were being brought to court by the
Sanhedrin, the unbelieving Jews. Many of them were being put in
jail, almost immediately, persecution. The witnesses of Christ would
be scattered throughout the known world preaching the gospel. You
remember, think about this, this is Acts chapter eight. Let me
just read this to you. In Acts chapter eight and verse
three, it says, as for Saul, remember who Saul is, he made
havoc of the church. Who? Saul of Tarsus. A man who came to be later the
apostle. The apostle to the Gentiles.
But it says in Acts 8 and verse 3, as for Saul, he made havoc
of the church, entering into every house and hailing men and
women. That is arresting them, committing them to prison. Therefore
they that were scattered abroad went everywhere Preaching the
word. That's how God shot the gospel
out through the Gentile world. Paul sometimes, he knew this,
he stated that he was the apostle to the Gentiles. And in that
gospel going out all over the world because of the persecution,
the severe persecution in Jerusalem and in Judea, the Lord would
raise up churches in the Gentile world. He raised up one in Rome,
raised up one in Corinth, one in Galatia, several in Galatia,
one in Ephesus, Thessalonica, go right on and on and on. And it was mainly through the
ministry of this man who before his conversion made havoc of
the church. Wow. Isn't that amazing? That's the
power of God. Here this man was doing his dead level best to
persecute what he considered to be heresy in order to do what? To establish his own righteousness
before God. And then when the Lord revealed
himself to this man on the Damascus road and sent him to Ananias
to hear the gospel, what did he do? He counted all of that
that he highly esteemed and held as dear and recommended him unto
God. He counted it but dumb that he
may win Christ and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ. the righteousness of God by faith.
And when you stand in amazement of what God did for this man,
are you any less amazed at what God did for you or for me? Yeah, the Lord shot the gospel
out over into the Gentile world. He raised up many churches in
that world, mainly through the ministry of Paul, but with others. And that, you know, that was
in fulfillment of a spiritual promise that he had made to Abraham. When he said to Abraham in Genesis
12, 3, In thee shall all families or nations of the earth be blessed.
What does that tell you? God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue and nation. Do you know that's why the gospel
is here today? That's right. The purpose. the sovereignty, the power of
Almighty God who controls all things, to the praise of the
glory of His grace, who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. And then, think about this, as
you read through Revelation, here's what you find. Even though
the true gospel would be preached throughout this time, and true
believers would be established throughout, Towards the end of
this gospel millennium, which I believe we're there, but towards
the end of this gospel millennium, just before Christ comes again,
there will come many more deceivers. False preachers and false brethren. And Satan would be loosed to
deceive the nations. You know what Satan's doing?
When he deceives the nation, he's sowing his tares, which
are false churches, that come in the name of Christ and call
themselves Christian, but they deny the truth of Christ. They
deny the true gospel. And this would culminate in what
the Bible calls, as which Paul wrote by the power of the Spirit
in 2 Thessalonians, a great falling away, an apostasy, because of
the spirit of Antichrist. And I'll show you as we progress
through this book, don't look for one person called the Antichrist. John said in 1 John 2 that the
spirit of Antichrist was present in his day. You know what Antichrist
means? It means against Christ. Any religion no matter what it
calls itself, that is against Christ, against the glory of
His person, against the power of His finished work, His righteousness.
Any group, religious or otherwise, who preaches salvation, conditioned
on sinners, and not on Jesus Christ alone, is the spirit of
antichrist. You say, preacher, you're being
too hard. I don't think I'm being hard enough. But you know what? When the last
one of God's elect, the last one of Christ's sheep, are called
into the fold by the power of God under the gospel, It says
in 1 Thessalonians chapter four, the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall
we ever be with the Lord. That's a glorious revelation,
folks. That's not a pipe dream. But
rest assured that throughout this time of great deception
and great persecution, not one of God's chosen people will perish. Not one. That's right. Because God is
not willing that even one of them should perish, but they
should all come to repentance. And how many times did Christ
state that in John 6? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, him that cometh me I will in no wise cast out.
This is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he
hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. It says here in verse 1 that
the Lord sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant
John. This book was written around
AD 90. The city of Jerusalem had already
been obliterated. That was A.D. 70. John was the
last apostle to live on this earth. He was about 90 years
old. He was in exile in an island called Patmos. You know the story. But here on the isle of Patmos,
and what happened, the Roman emperor Domitian put him there
to shut him up. To stop him. We don't wanna hear
this. But on the Isle of Patmos, here's
what happened. God the Father gave this revelation
to God the Son. God the Son gave it to his angel,
his messenger, and the angel, his messenger, gave it to John. John recorded it and sent it
to the churches. The gospel went out. Seven churches,
you know, you know their names in Revelation 2 and 3 and Verse
2 it says who bear record of the Word of God. That's what
John did He said and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things
that he saw This is recorded in the Word of God. This is God's
revealed inspired inerrant Word This isn't John's opinion John said this, he recorded this,
this is 1 John 5, 10, let me read this. He said, he that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record that God gave of His Son. People today need to get back
to the record, the written Word of God, to understand and find
what does God say about Himself in His Word. What does God say
about us as sinners in need of salvation by sovereign grace?
What does God say about His Son and how He saves sinners by the
righteousness of another? John went on to write in verse
11 there, and this is the record that God had given to us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. And here's the bottom line.
He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. And that's what's most offensive
to this world, even many who call themselves Christian. There's
one God, and all other gods are idols. There's one Savior, one
way to God, and all other ways are false. One way to glory. by the grace
of God that reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Every other way is false. John writes in verse three, blessed
is he that readeth. Here's a beatitude. Remember
the beatitudes in Matthew five? Well, here's another beatitude. It's a blessing to be able to
read the word of God. But he goes on, blessed is he
that hear the words of this prophecy. It's a greater blessing to hear
the word of God with understanding. How many times in the Bible,
but especially in Revelation, when he addresses the seven churches,
at the end of every address to the churches, you know what he
says? He says, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Remember
what Christ told the disciples about those who rejected the
gospel? He said they have ears to hear, but they won't hear.
They turn a deaf ear. How do I hear the word of God?
How do you hear it? Well, He says here in verse three,
he says, blessed are those who read it, blessed those who hear
it, and blessed are those who keep those things which are written
therein for the time is at hand. If you read it, and you've heard
it, and the Spirit of God has done that sovereign, powerful,
irresistible work of grace, you'll keep it. You'll guard it. It's
written on your heart. You believe it. You cannot walk
away unaffected. That's right. How do you see it? How do you
hear it? It's the greatest thing I have
ever received. This is greater than winning
the lottery. That's right. If I found out
I won the lottery, it will not eclipse this. I'd rather dwell in the houses
of the poor and be right with God than dwell with the rich
and be on my way to damnation. How do you hear it? It's precious. There's no substitute for it.
I've got to have it. How about you? And that's not
bragging on me. Because it's the Lord who gave
me a hunger and a thirst after righteousness that can only be
filled in the perfection of righteousness that I can only find in one person,
the God-man, Jesus Christ. What a glorious revelation. He
says, for the time is at hand. That means it's near. It's shortly
coming to pass. Somebody said, well, it seems
like a long time to me. Well, not to God. God one day
is 1,000 years and 1,000 years is, God doesn't measure time
like we do. Well, look at verse four. John
to the seven churches which are in Asia, Asia Minor. He says,
grace be unto you in peace from him which is and which was, which
is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his
throne. The seven churches, these are local congregations throughout
Asia Minor. Ephesus was one of them, Thyatira,
Smyrna, you know, Laodicea. All of them were founded upon
the true gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ.
And you see the number seven there, starts out, seven churches.
You know that number seven is really prominent throughout the
book of Revelation. Somebody I think counted them
and said the number seven appears 54 times throughout the 22 chapters. What does seven mean in the word
of God? It means a, it's symbolic of
a finished, complete, perfect, and full work. That's what the
number seven means. These were seven literal churches. They're representative of all
the churches on the earth. Visible churches, as they say.
They're called in Revelation 1, the seven lampstands. A lampstand, like a candlestick. Because they're the light. Or
should be. A city set on a hill. You're
the light of the world. Shining lights in a dark world.
Now how are we the light? We hold forth publicly, openly,
often the light of the glory of God revealed in the face of
Jesus Christ, the gospel. We preach the gospel. How God
saves sinners like us? By His grace. through the blood
of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, freely imputed and
received by faith. We make those distinctions because
man by nature and many who call themselves Christian, they don't
know the reality of grace. They don't know the reality of
righteousness. These seven churches, you might
notice that none of these congregations exist today. And what constitutes
a true church? Somebody says, I'm looking for
a church that I can go to. Well, what are you looking for?
What are you hoping to find? Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 3.15,
he says, but if I tarry along, that thou mayest know how thou
oughtest behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church
of the living God, and here's how he describes it, the pillar
and ground of the truth. Now if you go looking for a church,
if you're looking for anything else but the truth, that that
church is built upon and stands for and preached from that pulpit,
you're not looking for a true church, not a lamp stand, not
a candlestick. You may be looking for human
morality, social acceptance, but you're not looking for the
church, the true church. You know what the word church
means, don't you? It means called out. called out ones, called
out of the world by the Spirit through the preaching of the
gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. And what
is that? That's the righteousness of Christ,
the God-man, which he accomplished in his obedience unto death as
our representative, as our surety, as our substitute, as our redeemer. You go into a place where they're
preaching the righteousness of man? You're in the wrong place though,
you might not see it. God's elect, Christ's sheep,
saints, sinners saved by grace, true children of God in Christ,
brought into the fellowship of faith and truth and love. by the Spirit of God, meeting
together as a mutual admiration society, oh no. I'll never forget years ago when
I first moved here, I had a lady walking out the back there, and
she told me this, she said, you don't ever have anything good
to say about anybody. I said, you're wrong. She said,
well, I don't think so. I said, you're wrong, I have
a lot of good to say about Christ. And that's what I'm here to do.
I'm not here to brag on y'all or myself. I'm here to brag on
Christ. I want you to go out of the building
here feeling good about Christ and your hope in Him. You know, Christ in Matthew chapter
24, In verse 22, he said, talking about the days of persecution
leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, but which also
applies to the last days, the gospel millennium, he said, except
those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved,
but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened, cut
short. And again, somebody might say,
well, it doesn't seem so short to me. Oh, but it is to God. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2 in
verse 9, he's talking about his suffering. When he wrote the
epistles to Timothy, he was in jail. And he said in verse 9,
wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds, but
the word of God is not bound, therefore I endure all things
for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the
salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. A true gospel witness, a true
church, is the greatest providential blessing that God can give to
a community. And the worst judgment that God
can bring on a community is the absence of that light. Where there's no light, there's
no Holy Spirit. Where there's no Holy Spirit,
there's no life. Corrupt trees cannot bring forth
good fruit. People need to know who God is. They need to know who they are,
who we are. They need to know who Christ
is and how God saves sinners. They need to know what righteousness
is. That God's going to judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom He hath ordained and He has given assurance unto
all men and He raised Him from the dead. My friends, your works,
your efforts cannot make you right with God. Cherish the truth. Cherish our
fellowship. Guard it with our lives. John writes here in verse four,
grace be unto you, peace from him, in verse four, which is
and which was, which is to come. at grace, unconditional favor,
unconditional blessing, unconditional salvation for us, all conditioned
on Christ. Grace that reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life, not by our efforts, but by Jesus Christ,
our Lord. And it comes as a free gift from
the Lord through Christ, the eternal Son. Peace, he says. not with the world, but peace
with God in Christ by the blood of His cross. I love this passage
in Isaiah 32. Let me read this to you. Isaiah
32, 17. The work of righteousness shall
be peace. And the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance forever And he says, and my people shall
dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in
quiet resting places. How does all that come about?
By the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ as my representative,
my surety, my substitute, my redeemer. And I want you to think
about something. Peace with the world, if we do
have any modicum of peace in this world, it can be broken.
And you know something, peace between us can be broken for
a while in disharmony. But this peace, which Christ
the Prince of Peace brought about between his people and the Lord
God, from the Father, who is eternal and immutable, that's
He who was, which is to come, or He who was, who is, and which
is to come, that's the eternal God, that's what that's talking
about. He's eternal and He's immutable. The peace that Christ
established between His people and God can never be broken. It's from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness. And that seven spirits there,
what is that? Well, that's the Holy Spirit,
who is a perfect seven. He's the complete spirit, the
perfect spirit in power of spiritual life that he brings from the
Father and the Son and applies it to every one of God's chosen
people, bringing us to faith in Christ, repentance of dead
works, perseverance in the faith. That's a symbolic way of referring
to the Holy Spirit. And he sent forth, verse five,
from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first
begotten from the dead, speaking of his resurrection from the
dead. Well, my time is about up, so
I'll pick up there next week, Lord willing, and we'll see more
of this glorious revelation. that we who are sinners saved
by grace enjoy in the glorious person and the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's close our service today
by singing a portion from hymn number 318, I Need Thee Every
Hour. Let's stand and sing this hymn.