Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect key
A great high priest whose name is love Whoever lives and bleeds
for me My name is graven on his hands. My name is written on
his heart. I know that while in heaven he
stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart. No tongue can bid me thence depart. When Satan tempts me to despair
and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see him there,
who made an end of all I said, because a sinless Savior died,
my sinful soul is counted free, for God the just is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me. To look on Him and pardon My perfect spotless righteousness,
the great unchangeable I am, the King of glory and of grace. My soul is purchased by His blood. My life is filled with Christ,
O my! With Christ my Savior and my
God. One with Himself I cannot die. My soul is purchased by His blood. My life is here with Christ on
high. With Christ my Savior and my
God. With Christ my Savior and my
God. With Christ my Savior and my
God. Amen. Amen. Thank you. We're very happy and very honored
to have Jim Byrd come preach to us this morning. He's the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashton, Kentucky. He's my dear brother and my friend. I'm thankful for him, for his
family. I love them dearly. He's going
to come and preach to us this morning. Here he comes. Well, it's good to be with you.
Open your Bibles to the book of Revelation, chapter 1. And
while you do that, I'll check out this water. Revelation chapter 1. Well, it
begins this way, or here's the title of the book, The Revelation
of Saint John the Divine. And I take issue with that because
it isn't a revelation of Saint John the Divine. Now, he is a
saint, but we're all saints in Christ
Jesus, aren't we? who were sanctified in old eternity
by the Father. God set us apart in election,
electing grace. God said, you're my people. The same God who said, I'll be
merciful to whom I'll be merciful, He is merciful to us. And He
gave us to Christ Jesus in covenant, love, and grace. He set us apart. That's the reason we're not going
to perish. That's the reason that we come
to know Christ sometime during our lives. It's because we're
sanctified in Christ Jesus by the Father before the world began. We're vessels of mercy. Vessels
of mercy. Oh, what a blessing. We're God's people. We've always
been God's people. Loved with an everlasting love. Loved in Christ Jesus. Given
to the great surety of the sheep. given to our shepherd. And He's
been ever responsible for our salvation. We're sanctified by
the Father in covenant grace. And we're sanctified by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're made pure by Christ. We're
God's people. We're saints of God. Not just
John, but all of us. We're washed in the blood. We're
robed in His righteousness. God who set us apart in divine
election, he gave us to his son and He's our substitute. He's God's
sacrifice to sin. And He came into this world and
these people God had set apart, Christ Jesus bore us upon His
heart. Our names are graven upon His
hands and He redeemed us by His blood. He justified us freely
by His grace. We're God's people. sanctified
in Christ Jesus by Christ Jesus at the cross. Justified in Him. Oh, blessed, blessed Father.
All of our sins, which are many, are washed away. We stand robed
and dressed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus in the wedding
garment that He gives to His bride. We are indeed saints of
God by virtue of our everlasting union with Jesus Christ. God
chose us, Christ redeemed us, and then the Spirit of God, He
set us apart. He sanctified us. We're set apart,
sanctified by the Holy Ghost, wrapped up, no doubt, in false
religion or maybe in just open wickedness, but God the Spirit,
He came to us at the appointed time. In that hour ordained in
old eternity, God sent us the Gospel. He sent us the message of how
God can be just and justify the ungodly. Only through the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, only by His sacrifice does God save
sinners. In the Spirit of God, He caused
a preacher to cross our path. And we heard the Gospel. We heard
the truth. Or we'd been hearing error for
years and years, but then the day came and God taught us the
gospel. He taught us the truth. That's
what God uses. He uses the truth. He doesn't
use lies. He doesn't use error. He uses
the truth. He uses the truth of the gospel
of His free grace, the good news of absolute redemption accomplished
by Jesus Christ at the cross. He didn't try to save people.
He didn't try to redeem people. He didn't try to justify His
people. He did the work that God gave
Him to do to God's full satisfaction. He saved His people. He justified
His people. He made His people righteous.
He washed away all of our sins. And we know that because God
raised Him from the grave. In the Spirit of God, He comes
to us through the Gospel and He sanctifies us. He sets us
apart. We are running with the herd.
We are on the broad road that leads to destruction. And the
Spirit of God comes to us and says, This isn't the way. This
is the way. Walk ye in it. Walk ye in it. What is it about this way? It's
a narrow way. But it's the way that goes all
the way to glory. It's the living way because Christ
Himself is the way. He said to Philip, I am the way,
I am the truth, I am the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. And the Spirit of God set us
apart. Oh, blessed, blessed grace of
God in regeneration and in revelation. He took us. He took us and lifted
us from the miry clay. He washed us in the blood of
Jesus Christ. He gave us eyes to see and ears
to hear and a heart to believe the gospel. And He said, Now
this is the truth. Believe it. And with full willingness
of the heart, we believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. For He
says His people, they shall be willing in the day of His power. And He saved us by His grace. We're a sanctified people, so
we're all saints. If you're a believer, if you
rest in the Lord Jesus, if He's all of your hope, and all of
your righteousness, and all of your life, You're a child of
God, you're a saint of God. by virtue of your union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. So when it says St. John, well,
it's St. Gary and St. James, and the rest
of you who are saints of God as well. We're saints in the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the revelation not of
St. John the Divine, but it's the
revelation, the first few words of verse one, of Jesus Christ. And you notice this also, it
says the revelation of Saint John the Divine. And that bothers
me because there's nothing about John that's divine. Now the message
God gave him was divine. Now that's right. The message
is divine because it came from God. It came from the Lord Jesus
Christ. But there's nothing about this
man that's divine. Not when he was on this earth
and not in glory. There's nothing about you that's
divine in yourself. You're not divine. We're not
made little gods. But by divine grace we're saved. And by divine revelation, the
Word of God is revealed to our hearts. God makes Himself known
to us. That is a divine work. We're
made the people of God. We're made the children of God
from old eternity. That's God's work. And even now
we've been made to embrace the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's divine work. We're preserved
in the way of grace. That's a divine work. One of
these days we're going to be glorified. That's a divine work. But we're not divine. We're not
divine. This is not the revelation of
Saint John the Divine. Now look at this first statement
of verse 1. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Or as one writer said, it's the
revelation about Jesus Christ. It's about Him. It's about Him. What does the word revelation
mean? You know, you hear a lot today
about, oh, the apocalypse. Well, that comes from this word
revelation, really. And usually when this word apocalypse
is used or apocalyptic is used, people think of something catastrophic. Well, when our Lord Jesus is
revealed the second time, That is, when our Lord Jesus comes
back from glory, and as it says here in Revelation chapter 1,
and every eye shall see Him, there are going to be some catastrophic
things that are going to happen. There is no question about that.
After He raises His people from the dead and those of us who
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with those
who have died. Their souls will be joined together.
We will all be caught up in the air to meet the Lord in the air
and to be with Him forever. Then there is going to be a judgment
of this earth. It is going to be renovated by
fire. That is a catastrophic thing.
Don't worry that man's going to destroy that which God has
made. God's going to destroy it. God's
going to renovate it. We have ruined it with sin. You see, we're the problem. We've always been the problem.
And I know we think that everything revolves around us, but things
are in the mess that they are on account of us. And all of
creation groans. That's what Romans chapter 8
says. It groans, it travails, waiting for the redemption of
our bodies and waiting for the revelation of the people of God. And there's that word revelation
again. When you think of the word revelation,
therefore, don't think of something catastrophic. Think of that which
is uncovered. unveiled, that which is made
known. You see, here's what John is
saying to us, and I say John is saying it to us, it's the
Spirit of God who is saying it to us. He is saying in this book, there
will be an unveiling of Jesus Christ. Wouldn't that be a good title
for the whole book of God? The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
This is the Bible. This is the Word of God. But
this is, in fact, the unveiling of, the uncovering of, this one
whose name is Jesus Christ. His name is Jesus and here's
his title. He's the Christ. He's the Messiah. This is the revelation, the uncovering
of, the appearing of, the making known of Jesus who is the Savior. He is our Joshua. The angel said
to Mary and then said later to Joseph, Thou shalt call His name
Jesus. For, or this is the reason, This one Jesus, He shall save
His people from their sin. This Jesus, He has a people. They were entrusted to Him before
the world began. God the Father gave to Him a
people. Oh, there are many people. They're
out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. You see, long
before there was ever a sinner, there was an appointed Savior.
A Savior of the people. The Shepherd of the sheep. And
His name is Jesus. He's the Savior. He's the Savior. He's the Deliverer of His people. He's the one who will make His
people whole. He will make His people whole
again. We fell in Athens. We became polluted in Adam. We became transgressors in Adam. In Adam, all die. That's what the scripture says.
In Romans 5, wherefore is by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men. For that all have sinned. We
all sinned in Adam. We all fell in Adam. We need a deliverer. We need
a savior. We need a great physician for
our souls. We need somebody to bring us
back to God. Oh folks, we're in a mess. We're
in a mess. We don't even realize how bad
it is. Even those of us who've been
awakened by the grace of God. Even those to whom the light
of the gospel has shined on us and shined in our hearts. Even
those of us who have been brought to life by the quickening power
of the Spirit. Even those of us who have been
brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't even begin
to know the depths of sin and misery from which God has lifted
us up. Bless God we have a Savior. His
name is Jesus. He shall save His people. No question about it. No ifs,
ands, or buts. No possibility that He won't
follow through. God gave Him these people. In
covenant love and mercy, God gave Him these people. That's
why I came to this earth. He didn't come down here to try
to save everybody. He didn't come down here to try
to change the world. He didn't come down here to set
an example for all of us and how we ought to live a good life.
He didn't come down here to go to the cross to show us that
this is the way you ought to die, submissive to the will of
God. Although we can learn lots of
lessons like that from him. But that's not the reason he
came. He came to save. He came to make people whole
again. We became diseased. It is permeated throughout our
bodies. Our souls are diseased. We need
a great physician. We need a cure. We need a cure. We need a remedy. What is the
remedy for the disease? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the cure. That is the
remedy. He is Jesus the Savior. Jesus the great physician of
diseased souls. Who is he? He's Christ. He's
Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the anointed
one. In the Old Testament, prophet,
priest, and king had to be anointed. Behold our prophet, priest, and
king. He's the anointed one, anointed
to be the spokesman for God, anointed to be that priest who
offered unto God the one sacrifice that put away forever the sins
of his people. And he's the king. By virtue
of his successful work on the cross, God gave him all authority. God has exalted Him. He's King
Jesus. He's not waiting to be King.
He's not wanting to be King. He's not going to be made King
someday. He is the King. He is the King. He's the Lord who rules over
all. Who governs all things according
to His sovereign will and purpose. This is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. or the revelation about Jesus
Christ. We know this. All of the Bible
is about Him. Right? All of the Bible is about
Him. And this is what we ask for as
we read the Scriptures and we read daily, I hope, and you who
are the people of God, I admonish you, read the Word of God. I
know there are several excellent books to read and study, but
nothing equals this book. Read the Word of God. And as you read, ask God the
Spirit, would you show me Christ Jesus in this book? I know He's
in here. I know it's about Him. open my
eyes that I might see Him. And don't you confess this, don't
you acknowledge this, that you've read passages of Scripture and
you say, just come right scratching your head and say, where is Christ
in that passage? I'll tell you this, He's there. He's there. And the only one
who can show Him to us is the Holy Spirit, who inspired the
elite movement of God years ago to write this book. He can show
us. So we ask God when we open the
book, when you open the Word of God, Lord, show me. Lord,
teach me. Lord, I'm looking for Your Son.
I know You've ordained that He have all preeminence. Listen,
He's got all preeminence in creation. all preeminence in creation.
By Him all things that were made, that were made, He made them.
He made them. He has all the preeminence in
providence. And I'll talk about that a little
bit more in a couple of minutes. But He rules all things, fulfilling
the Father's will. He has all, all preeminence in
providence. He's the King who's executing
the Father's eternal will. He has all preeminence in redemption. In redemption. He's the one who
bought His people in due time. Our debt of sin became due and
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. When the debt was due,
we owed a debt we couldn't pay. He took that debt upon Himself. And you know when He took that
debt? When He received us as a gift from the Father. And our debt, the payment of
our debt, the Father looked to Him to pay it. He's always been
responsible for the salvation of His people. He's always been
held accountable. And then He came into this world
and about 2,000 years ago God in His eternal decree said the
death is due. Christ died. Christ died. And He put away our sins by the
sacrifice of Himself. There He is satisfying divine
justice for us. There he is fulfilling or enduring
the penalty of the law. The law said the wages of sin
is death. Death. The law said the soul
that sinned shall die. And he died. He died. And when he died, our sins died
with him. When He died, the justice of
God was silent forever against His people. And listen to the
Scriptures. There is, therefore, now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. This is a revelation of Jesus
Christ, of His accomplishment. He's got
preeminence in redemption. And as He has preeminence in
creation and in providence and in redemption, He has preeminence
in the book of God. He has the preeminence. And this
book that God has given us, and thank God He gave us this book.
We wouldn't know these things were in this book. You see, if
God remains silent, then He remains unknowable. Because you're not
going to know God. I'm not going to know God. I'm
not going to know about our fault, nor the remedy for the fault,
unless God speaks. A silent God is a God that can't
be known. He can't be approached. You say,
well I can learn about God walking through the woods and admiring
all of His creation. It manifests the glory of God,
but it doesn't tell you how He saves sinners. It doesn't inform
you how God can be just and justify ungodly folks like you and me. Beautiful flowers. They are wonderful. I am so thankful God made them.
But they don't tell me how my sins can be pardoned. Here is what they tell me. Someone wise and someone all-powerful
made me. But they don't tell me how I
can be right with that all-wise, all-powerful one. I learned that
from the Scriptures. I tell you, Christ has the pre-emptness.
This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And all the book is about
Him. It's about Him. Now watch this.
Alright, it says, the revelation of Jesus Christ. But this is
also intended, I believe, it's a revelation that comes to us
from Jesus Christ. It's a revelation from Jesus
Christ. Watch the reading now, verse
1. The revelation, let me read it this way. The revelation from
Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants, to
manifest, to expose, to bring to light unto His servants things
which must shortly come to pass and He's sent and signified by
His angel unto John. Now, our Lord Jesus is Himself
God. There's no question about that.
And as such, He has life and light in Himself. Yet, as He
sustains the office of mediator between the Father and His people,
He receives information from and instruction from His Father
which He gives to us. Now let me make good on that.
Turn with me to John chapter 7. This is the revelation not
only of Jesus Christ, but it's a revelation that comes to us
from Jesus Christ. Look at John chapter 7 and verse
16. Now back up to verse 14, John
chapter 7, Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into
the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying,
How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered
them and said, My doctrine is not mine. My teaching, he says,
is not mine. but His that sent me." What he's
saying is, my doctrine comes to me from the Father. I give
it to you. Look at John chapter 14 verse
10. John chapter 14 verse 10. This is our Lord speaking to
Philip. He says to Philip, You want to
back up to verse 8. Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father. John 14, 8. And it sufficeth
us. Jesus saith unto him, have I
been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou
then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak
unto you I speak not of myself. But the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works. Again, the message I deliver
to you, Philip, I deliver to you from the Father. From the
Father. Shall I give you another passage?
Look at John 12. Go back a couple of pages, John
chapter 12, 49 and 50. John 12, 49 and 50. He says,
and this is right at the end of His public ministry. Our Lord
is now finished with His public ministry. From the rest of the
time that He has, He will speak only to His disciples. Chapter 12, verses 49 and 50. He says, for I have not spoken
of myself. That is, the words that I speak
to you, they didn't originate with this man that you see. But
the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I
should say and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. And one other
reference, chapter 17, verses 7 and 8. This is in our Lord's
high priestly prayer. His high priestly prayer. John 17, 7 and 8. Let me read verse 6 as well. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest Me, and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send Me." The words that He spoke. The Father gave Him those words
to speak unto us. So back over here in our text
in Revelation chapter 1 in verse 1, It's saying the revelation
that comes to us is from Jesus Christ. The words which God gave
to him for us. I want you to get this. Therefore,
if God's going to speak to us, if God has a message for us,
He will always convey that message. through Jesus Christ the Lord. Old brother Scott Richardson
years ago, he made this statement and it stuck with me. He said,
God will not speak to nor be spoken to by any son or daughter
of Adam except through a mediator. And that's worth remembering
right there. He's not going to speak to you
except through Jesus Christ the Lord. And you're not going to
speak to God except through Jesus Christ the Lord. Our gods are
consuming fire. If I could put it this way, you
don't want to do business with God one-on-one, you'd be consumed
by His holiness, by the very purity of who He is. His glorious
majesty Thank God there is somebody who is bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh who came into this world as our Savior, who is our
representative in glory. He is Jesus Christ the Lord and
He delivers the message of God to us. And we pour out our hearts to
God through Him. And He even says to the people
of God, come boldly to the throne of Christ. Not brashly, not irreverently,
but you can come boldly to the throne of grace. Oh, preacher,
I'm not fit to pray. I'm not in the right mood. I've
had people tell me, I'm just not in the right frame of mind.
Well, I suspect when we think we are in the right frame of
mind, that's just a bunch of self-righteousness. We come to God through the Savior.
We come to God through our Great High Priest. Just come on. Come on. But I'm
so vile. Come on in your vileness. I'm
so polluted. Come on in your pollution. I'm so sinful. Come on in your
sinfulness. Come on to Jesus Christ, the
Mediator. He's mighty to save and mighty
to receive. And if you wanna do business
with God, you're gonna do business with God through God's only begotten
Son. That's just the way it is. So,
the revelation from Jesus Christ, from Jesus Christ, God speaks
to us through His Son. See, I can't see God, I can't
know God, I can't deal with God, I can't speak to God, I can't
be spoken to by God, I can't come to God except through Jesus
Christ the Lord. But through Jesus Christ the
Lord, I can see God, I can know God, I can deal with God, I can
speak to God, I can be spoken to by God, and I can come to
God through Jesus Christ the Lord. That helps this old sinner. That helps me. That does me some
good. Forget about coming to God through
some dead saint. You can't come through a dead
saint. You can't come to God through Mary. She had to come
to God the same way you got to come to God. She said, my soul
rejoices in God my Savior. That's what she said. And I echo
her words. I rejoice in God, my Savior.
That's how I come to Him. Again, He said to Thomas, I'm
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. He's the way. Without Him, there's
no going. He's the truth. Without Him, there's no knowing.
And He's the life. Without Him, there's no living. He's our prophet. He's our priest. He's our king. He's unrivaled
in His excellence. So this book, the book of the
revelation and the whole book of God, the whole Word of God
is a revelation of the mind and the will of God to and for His
church which He speaks to us by and through Jesus Christ the
Lord. This book, by and large, it's
for God's people. The threats in it are for His
enemies. But this is a love letter to
God's people where He tells us about His Son, our Savior. He
tells us about His purpose of redemption. And you know, the book of the
Revelation, it's the last book of the Bible. It's a book about
victory. It's the victory of God's church
through Jesus Christ over all of our enemies. Isn't that wonderful? Have you ever picked up a book,
I'm talking about like a secular book, a novel or whatever, fiction,
and you just I've got to see how this thing ends. It's just
go to the last chapter of the book. Oh, that's who did it,
and that's how it winds up. Well, listen, we read this is
the last book of the Bible, and it tells us that we are more
than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loved us and gave
himself for us. That's how it's going to wind
up. He's the victor. We're victorious. through Jesus Christ the Lord.
And in this book, He shows His servants. Look at the reading
again. The revelation from Jesus Christ
or of Jesus Christ which God gave unto Him. God gave to Jesus
Christ to show, to manifest unto His servants. I'm his servant. Aren't you his servant? I'm his
willing servant. He's made me his servant. I know
I'm a son of God. I'm a child of God, but I'm his
willing servant. Things which must shortly come
to pass. They must shortly come to pass.
Well, the word shortly, preacher, well, John wrote this nearly
2,000 years ago, shortly. is shortly in God's time frame
because a day with the Lord is a thousand years, a thousand
years is a day! They must come to pass. You know why they must come to
pass? Because God ordained them. I love over in the fifth chapter
of Revelation John sees a book sealed with seven seals. And it's in the hand of the one
who sat on the throne. And nobody was found worthy to
open that book. Now here's the thing. What's
in that book? I'll tell you what the book represents.
And we know this about the book of Revelation. It's written in
sign language. In fact, right here, you see
that word, and he sent and signified it to his angel by his servant
John. That word signified means sign
language. A lot of sign language. Isn't
the Old Testament sign language? Well, sure it is, full of sign
language. So is the book of the Revelation
of Jesus Christ. John sees this book, sealed with
seven seals, written within and without, and on the back side.
In other words, it's a book that's full. Nothing can be added to
it. What's that book represent? All
the decrees of God. That's a book of God's predestination. That's everything God has purposed,
most especially regarding his people, his church. It's all
in that book. I don't know why this is happening.
It's written in the book. Why does God send me down this
road? It's written in the book. You
see, our Lord Jesus, He's the executor of the will of God. Everything that ever shall be
is written in the book. And John sees that book sealed. Now the rest of the book of the
Revelation is the loose seal of the seven seals. In other
words, somebody is going to execute God's predestinated purpose.
Everything God has predestinated, somebody's gonna bring it all
to pass. Now, here's the question. Who's worthy to do that? A voice went out. Who is worthy
to open the book and loose the seals thereof? Look around. Nobody is worthy. John said,
I wept much. You mean God's predestinated
will is not going to come to pass? Can that be possible? I said, Preacher, are you a predestinarian? Anybody who believes the Word
of God is a predestinarian. Isn't that right? We don't believe
in luck. We don't believe in chance. We
believe God. We believe the God of purpose.
No accidents. It's not fate. No, it's the will
of God. It's the will of God. You say,
what about what's happening in the world today? How can you
explain that? Now, wait a minute. I'm not in
the explaining business. I'm in the proclaiming business.
I can't explain everything. But I do know this. Everything
that comes to pass is by the sovereign will of God. And I've said this back home. I hope people grasp this. For
years I've heard people talk about, well this is the promised,
God just allows this to happen. I don't really find that kind
of language in the Bible. I just read about the will of
God. The will of God. I can't explain how things happen. I can't explain why things happen
except to say it's God's will and work together with all things
for the good of God's elect. It worked toward the fulfillment
of his purpose of redemption. I do know that. But everything
that's ever going to happen is in that book. And John said,
I wept because nobody was found worthy. And then one step forward. John said, lo, t'was the lion
of the tribe of Judah. He stepped forward. And he reached
his almighty male scarred hand up, and he took that book out
of the hand of him who sat on the throne, and all of the heavens
erupted into joy and praise. Look over here at chapter 5. Let me read you what was said. Look at verse 5, Revelation chapter
5 and verse 5. John is wet now. He's wet. Verse 4 says, I wet much because
no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither
to look therein. Nobody could even look on it.
And one of the elders said unto me, don't cry. Weep not. Behold, be amazed, be astounded! The Lion of the tribe of Judah,
the Root of David, hath prevailed! What does that mean? He's gotten
the victory! He's gotten the victory! The
victory over sin! The victory over Satan! The victory
over death! and He satisfied every demand
of God's law and justice. He has prevailed to open the
book and loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo,
in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and of the
elders stood a lamb." He's right in the middle of the church. "...a lamb as it had been slain."
That's always to be understood and remembered. He's the Lamb
slain. Don't ever get away from the
Lamb who was slain. Blood redemption. A satisfaction
of divine justice by His death. He has seven horns and seven
eyes. He has absolute perfect power
and knowledge. which are the seven spirits of
God sent forth into all the earth. And He came and He took the book
out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne. And when
He had taken the book, four beasts and the four and
twenty elders. These are the representatives
of the people of God. They fell down before the Lamb,
having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors,
which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song
saying, Thou art worthy. Thou art worthy, O Lamb of God. Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof. Wherein does His worthiness lie? For Thou was slain. You died. You died to sacrifice for sin. You died to substitute for our
poor souls. You died to sin offering unto
God. You died. and hast redeemed us. Redemption is an accomplished
act. As a one-time act, once hath
he appeared in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
himself. He died once. And hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of He didn't redeem every kindred, but He redeemed
the people out of every kindred. He didn't redeem people out of
every tongue or people of every tongue, but He redeemed the people
out of every tongue and people and nation and has made us unto
our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth.
We are kings and priests unto God through Jesus Christ the
Lord. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders, and the number
of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of
thousands sang with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb. And as there was slain. Three
times. Verse six, verse nine, verse
twelve. Was slain. Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain. to receive what? Power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
And then every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth,
and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that
are in them heard I saying, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb
forever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. That's all
the people of God. We're going to worship him forever
and ever and ever. And during these days on this
earth, in your life, and throughout the world, let's just always
be conscious of this fact. And this will bless us. All that's
happening. is the Lamb of God is executing
the Father's perfect will. It doesn't matter where it's
happening, where it's going on. It's the Lord. The Lord's doing
it. Boy, up our way, you know, it's
the election. And it is down here. People talking
about the election. I tell you, some people get really
stressed over this, you know. I say, well, it isn't any use. The person God has ordained to
set as president of the country, that's already been decreed,
and that's gonna happen. And I don't know what God's will
is for this nation. I'm thankful to be a citizen
of the United States of America, but I know this, there's another
nation God's interested in. Yeah. the Israel of God, as it says
in the end of Galatians chapter 6. And for those of you who are
citizens of the Israel of God, rest easy. Everything's alright. We're right on schedule. Our
Savior who redeemed us, He sits on His throne. He has absolute
power and authority over all things. And what's more, He's
executing that power and authority. Bringing to pass the Father's
eternal will. And one of these days, He will
wrap everything up. Yeah. And then we'll be with Him forever
and ever. And oh, blessed day that will
be. Oh, glorious day. What will we
do throughout heaven? Praise His name. Worship Him
with unsinning heart. Let that just be glorious. Have Thine own way, Lord. Have
Thine own way. I do thank him so much for this precious word. Pray he'll bless it as it goes
out. I think we're gonna have some
food. Let's all stay in be companions. Billy, would you
thank the Lord for us?