in that the Lord has been pleased
to allow us one more time to meet together. The Scripture
says this is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice
and be glad in it. He's allowed us to begin 2009. It's the first time we've met
in this new year. In a few moments, we're going
to continue to look in the book of Revelation 19, a couple of
verses. But I want to ask you this morning
to just stop for a moment, and right where you are, pray for
this service today. Pray for these two messages that
will be set forth. It ought to be that the longer
that we meet, the more we know, the more we understand. Growing
in grace, that is, growing in the knowledge of His grace with
a deeper understanding the deeper appreciation. And ask while you
pray, and I mean this, I'm asking you, I'm asking you to pray for
the services today. That the Lord might be pleased
to bless our hearts and cause us to truly feast, to eat, and
to drink of Him. It's not just another day. It's a glorious time of His blessing. And I ask you to ask Him to give
us a time of reverence and respect. I'm going to preach this morning
in this first service. I've entitled this, Let's pray together. Our Father,
as we approach You by faith, faith
that's given, I ask You this morning to help us. The Lord calls us to be able
to see by the revelation of the Spirit of God who teach us and
causes us to understand. Lord, may You grant us a heart
of respect. Would You quiet us? Quiet us
down. Cause us to be still and know
that You are God. We ask for Your help because
we cannot help ourselves. We're needy people and we know
it. And we ask these things for Christ's
sake. Amen. The armies, this is in Revelation. I'm going to look in Revelation
19, verses 15-16. But the armies spoken of in verse
14, which are in heaven. That is set forth. John saw the
church victorious. Gloriously victorious. Oh, how much we will know in
that day of this truth right here. Victorious. The armies of heaven are following
the Lord Jesus Christ while they are riding on white horses. That is what it says. The armies
which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed
in fine linen, white and clean. Now, the horses and the garments
are symbols of His purity. His holiness. His vesture, the Scripture said,
verse 13, was dipped in blood. And that's the reason why they
wore white. Because His was dipped in the
blood of His sacrifice. And the Scripture reveals and
we know that His righteousness is righteous. Now, I want you
to turn to Jeremiah 23. I want you to look at something.
Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, verses 5 and 6. Now, when we speak of the righteousness
of Christ, it's spoken of in Scripture and it's revealed to
be a robe And in our little fickle minds, we begin to look and we
think of a robe. We know what a robe is. It's a covering. Be careful,
be careful, be careful when we think of the robe that we do
not let our minds slip away. from the glory of what is being
spoken of. Jeremiah 23, verses 5 and 6,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto
David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth in his days,
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this
is His name whereby He shall be called the Lord our righteousness." Our robe is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our robe. He is our righteousness. Jehovah Jesus. When we speak of being clothed
in His righteousness, we are clothed in Him. The reason I'm saying this is
because of the realization of my own fickleness of thought.
How I began to just think of things that are less than right,
honorable. We're clothed in Him. You know,
just to stop and think. When you even begin to think,
I can think of a robe or a cloak, something that goes down, you
know, Gary. But then when I stop and think
of being clothed in Him, that He encloses me, then all of a sudden my mind
begins to think, I pray, a little bit more respectfully. He is. They follow Him, the Scripture
says, back in Revelation 19, whose name is the Word of God. And they're following Him into
battle. But it's not an uncertain warfare. I'll tell you why it's not uncertain
warfare. All other warfare is uncertain.
All other leaders are At best, still uncertain. Think of all the great military
leaders, but there's only one whose leadership, whose power,
whose might is unquestionable. The Scripture says, Matthew 28,
18, our blessed Savior speaking, all power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. and kind of take a deep breath
and just say, I'm glad for that. All authority is here. Romans 8.37, Nay, in all things
we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. So they're
following One whose victory is certain. the mighty God. Though this army, this group
described as the armies of heaven is seen following the Lord Jesus,
it is not really the armies that we are looking at today. It is
the one they follow. It is their Lord. It is their
God. their Savior. And it's on Him that we want
to dwell. John says in verse 15, Out of
His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite
the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron. He treadeth
the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of all mighty God. This is who He is. The just God
and the Savior. Now, while leading those that
are entrusted to His care, what He is doing is He is actually
coming forth as the victor and the judge. He is both. Here He is coming
forth. Turn to Isaiah 45. Isaiah chapter 45, verse 22. Isaiah 45, verse 22 through 25. Look unto Me, and be you saved
all the ends of the earth, for I am God. There is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the Word
has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, shall not return, that unto me
every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one
say in the Lord, Have I righteousness and strength? Even to him shall
men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
And in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and
shall glory." Now this glorious truth concerning the victor,
the majesty, the holiness, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,
His victory for His church and the destruction of all of His
enemies. This has always been set forth. Listen to this, Habakkuk
3.13, Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people,
even for salvation with Thine anointed. Thou woundest the head
out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation
unto the neck. Now let me tell you what Habakkuk
just said. God Almighty, the triune God,
revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, went forth. God Almighty, Father, Son, Spirit,
came forth, thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,
even for salvation with thine anointed, the Lord Jesus. God
Himself went forth for the salvation of His people, and by His glorious
victory through His obedience to the law and His death, He
crushed the head of the wicked, Satan. Here's what it says. Thou
wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation
with thine anointed. Thou woundest the head out of
the house of the wicked. He killed the head, Satan himself. He destroyed Satan. He crushed
his head. And it says, by discovering the
foundation unto the neck. Now, that word discovering, it's
actually He left destitute the body of Satan. Now, here's what
it is. Almighty God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is the head of His church, right? That's right. He has a body, and His body is
revealed to be the church, the bride. We are. So He's the head, and we're the
body. So you can say that we would
be Scripturally speaking, from the neck down, we are His body. That's what Paul has revealed.
The Church. The Scripture says that the Lord
Jesus Christ woundest the head out of the house of the wicked
by discovering, actually meaning left in unbelief. That's what
that word discovering means. It doesn't mean He... Well, I
can see where it... be revealing them, by discovering,
by revealing, leaving to themselves in unbelief from the foundation,
from the foot, the bottom, to the neck. This is what he said. The Lord Jesus, God has saved
His people by sending forth His anointed and absolutely has saved
them and also wounded the head out of the house of the wicked
by leaving to themselves in unbelief the body of Satan. He is a just God and He is a
Savior. Back in Revelation 19, out of
His mouth, a sharp two-edged sword, that He should smite the
nations and rule them with a rod of iron. And then it says, And
He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty
God." Now, there is a double meaning to that. He treadeth
the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. As
the surety of the sheep, the Scripture sets forth that He
did tread the winepress of God's wrath by Himself alone. There was none with Him. He Himself absolutely took upon Himself the guilt. He was made sin, His
people. And He bore their eternal guilt. As I've said before, why? Will men be in hell eternally? Why will they be in hell eternally?
God is an eternal God. And so, to sin against Him is
to sin against God eternally. No end. To sin against God who
is eternal then the only just reward for that is eternal damnation. He's a just God. In the way that
a man has sinned, that's the way the man will be judged. Now,
to stop and realize that Almighty God, Jehovah Jesus, bore in one sacrifice For all
that the Father, Jehovah God, gave Him in one
sacrifice, all of the guilt, all of that eternal debt, He
satisfied in one sacrifice. Now, you know what? That's just
more than we can grasp. How can it be? that what I owed
eternally, that He would put away in one sacrifice, in one
moment, and God Almighty saw the travail of His soul, and
He was satisfied. But I'll tell you, not only did
He tread the winepress of God's wrath for His own, Also he treadeth
the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of God toward the unregenerate." Let me read Isaiah 63 to you.
It says this, "...I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the
people there was none with me." Now there he is treading the
winepress of God's wrath for His people. But then Isaiah 63,
3 continues. It says, For I will tread them
in mine anger and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall
be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. But this one that John sees,
what greater comfort can there be given to the armies that are
in heaven following him than to read the name in verse 16. It says, And he hath on his vesture
and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Now listen to what is set forth
in that Scripture because But what I'm about to say, let me
first of all admit, I don't even know how to say
it. I even pray that I might be respectful. He deserves respect. He deserves
my worship. He deserves thoughts, and I realize
this is so far beyond, I just pray that He would bless it.
I like what Brother Scott says, I am not here to explain it,
but to proclaim it. And if the Spirit of God blesses
this to our hearts, if God blesses what we are about to look at,
I am telling you, we will feast. John saw Him whose name is the
King of kings and the Lord of lords. One God. One God. There is none other. Deuteronomy
6, verse 4, Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Now, here is what
I know about Him who is God. Turn to Exodus 6, verse 1 to
3. Exodus 6, 1-3, Then the Lord
said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand shall
he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out
of the land. And God spake unto Moses, and
said unto him, I am the Lord, and I appeared unto Abraham,
unto Isaac, unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, El Shaddai."
That's what that means. That's what El Shaddai means,
God Almighty. But by my name Jehovah was I
not known to them. Now, it's not that the patriarchs
didn't know the Lord is the Creator. It's not that they didn't know
Him to be the self-existent One, but He had never revealed Himself
openly in His covenant mercies. He said, I never revealed to
them. They knew Me as God Almighty,
but they never knew Me as Jehovah. Now, not until based on Exodus
6, 1-3. Not until Moses did the church
understand how the name Jehovah. Now, the Lord said, they knew
Me as God Almighty, but they didn't know Me as Jehovah. What was He saying? What did
He say? They didn't know Jehovah, how
the name Jehovah, that name that applies to each of the persons
of the Godhead. They did not understand. They
didn't know. It had not been openly revealed
until Moses that how Jehovah set forth God Almighty in every
perfection of His divine nature. They didn't know that. Now, we
know it. We know it today. It's been revealed
today. Let me explain. Now, the reason
I'm dealing with this is because John saw Him who was called faithful
and true. He's the King and He's the Lord.
One God. But He set forth. after Moses
as Jehovah, Father, Word, and Spirit. They didn't know that
before. They knew Him as God Almighty,
He said. But they never knew Him as the
triune God, one God. Now, the Scripture sets forth.
1 John 5-7. Let me just read this to you.
There are three that bear record in heaven. The Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. Now,
that word does mean agree. There's no doubt that it means
agree. But let me tell you what that word means. It means one. It means one. Somehow, in my mind, I strive
I do desire to grasp hold of what he's saying. He's one God. And all of the
illustrations that I can give, all of them, still pale, whether
it be myself being a dad, a son, and a husband, whether it be
water and vapor, they all pale. into a lack of my understanding
of the Trinity of His being, one God. Father, Word, Holy Spirit. Three that bear witness in heaven. What do they bear witness to?
I'll tell you what they bear witness to, that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. Because bound up in that truth,
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. What that says is Jesus
Christ has come into this world, Jesus, His humanity, Christ,
His deity. Going from that thought, you
have to know that He was sent. Going from that thought, you
have to know that there were some that were chosen for Him
to be sent to redeem. And from that thought, it has
to be revealed that there is the revelation of that truth. So saying that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God, actually what you're saying is it is now blossomed
into the totality of Jehovah. Three distinct personalities. One God. In many instances in
the Scripture, we see these three speaking to themselves or to the church. Don't get away from the singularness
of God Almighty. I'm one God. One God. Genesis 126, let us make man
in our image after our likeness. Our brain tries to compute. It
tries to figure. Genesis 11, 7 concerning the
Tower of Babel. Let us go down and confound their
language. One God speaking of himself in
a trinity at the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist
saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, Behold, The Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin of the world. There He is. There
He is. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
John and He said, All righteousness must be fulfilled. Here He is. There's the Son. And He was baptized. And it says, And the voice from
heaven was heard. And it said, This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. and the Spirit of God descended
upon him in the form of a dove. You know who that is? That's
God. One God. So here we see the Father, the
Son, and the Spirit. And John said, I saw Him. And
He's the King. And He's the Lord. One person. One God. Three personalities. I'm saying that not to question
your... I'm just speaking honestly. One God. Now here's God. Let me tell you who God is. God
the Father. Ephesians 1, 3 and 4. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's God.
And He is the Father. "...who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, 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." Who
is God? He is the Father. What has the
Father done? He has chosen a people. Who is God? I will tell you who
God is. John 1. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse
14, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. Who is God? I'll tell you who
He is. He's the Son. Who is God? I'll tell you who
He is. He's the Holy Spirit. That's
who God is. Acts 5, 3 and 4. But Peter said,
Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy
Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles
it remained, was it not in thine own? Was it not thine own? And
after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast
thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied
unto men. You have lied unto God. Who is God? He is the Holy Spirit. Who is God? The Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. Now listen, I'm so silly. Somehow, in my mind, I try to
elevate one above the other. In my mind, I began to look at
the Father. Oh, I don't want to be disrespectful.
You know what I'm about to say because you're thinking the same
thing. Somehow we look at the Father and then it's the Son
and the Holy Spirit. And somehow it's like God keep
me from that foolish thought. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Spirit. He said, I reveal myself to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty. But He said, reveal Himself through
Moses unto Moses as Jehovah. Jehovah. One God who has revealed Himself
this way. I, the one God, the one Lord,
I choose. I choose what I am going to do. I choose who I will show mercy
to. I choose whatsoever I will. I do as I will. I choose. I, God, satisfy myself by meeting
my own demand, by obeying my own law in the form of sinful
flesh. In the likeness of sinful flesh,
I do that, he said. And all that I purpose to show
mercy to, I clothe them with myself. And I, God Almighty, call whomsoever
I will. And I impart life. To all that
I will show mercy to, I quicken and I keep." John said, I saw
Him. I saw Him. And He is called the King of
Kings and He is the Lord of Lords. May Almighty God be pleased to
bless. To our understanding, yes. But may Almighty God be pleased
to bless. that we would just bow. Lord, though I see through a
glass darkly, thanks be unto God I see. Though I prophesy
in part, thanks be unto God that I can stand here today to preach.
And thanks be unto God if you have eyes to hear and ears to
see. For Christ's sake, amen. Let's take a break.