It's good to see you this morning,
and again, we're thankful for another time that we have to
come together and look into the Word of God. Let's take our Bibles
and turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 19, verse 12. Our Father, this morning we're
thankful. Lord, not as we ought to be,
but as we shall be, as we long to be, as we're convinced that
we will be. When this flesh is put away,
And we see You as You are. And we behold You and be like You. We pray this
morning that You would bless our hearts and teach us and help
us that we might truly behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For it is in His name we pray, Amen. There is no other authority.
There is no other word. No other thoughts. It sets forth the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That is God's glory. God's glory
is known only by Christ. God's opinion. What God thinks. God's character. God's power. We know through the Scriptures. No other source. No opinion. Nothing. What saith the Scriptures? Paul had preached the gospel
of free grace. The Lord called him out of darkness.
And Paul then said, under the inspiration of the Spirit of
God, and this is what he was talking about, that God Almighty is sovereign, that God Almighty has been pleased
to show mercy to whomsoever He will. that God Almighty has the right
to pass by whomsoever He will, that God Almighty is the potter
and we are the clay, that He has the right out of
the same lump to take and make one vessel unto honor, one that
is worth the cost, and another unto dishonor, one left to himself. No man has the right to question
Him. Why? Because He's made all things
for Himself. He made us. We didn't make Him.
He tells us. We don't tell Him. He's God. And if God is pleased to call
one out of darkness, He sovereignly will reveal to
them under this message that I just have been describing,
he will then reveal to them what he has done. And he tells them,
I saved you. You don't negotiate with me. I'm not offering you anything. The gospel is not an offer. This is not an offer. This is
not something that you listen to and mull over in your mind
and, hmm, I may decide to exercise my free will. You don't have
a free will. Anyone that tells you you have
a free will, that means bound by nothing to exercise or not
exercise. Anyone that tells you that salvation
is up to you is a liar. They're a liar. They're a bald-faced
liar. Why? Because salvation is of
the Lord. Salvation is of God. Salvation is of grace. Through
faith, that means evidenced by, known by. Not that your faith
is what instigates salvation. Salvations of the Lord. Paul
said, if any man preaches any other gospel than that which
was preached unto you, let him be accursed. He's accursed. He's accursed. Now listen. Men are well-meaning. Don't get
me wrong. They mean well. But if they lie on God and they
die and leave this world preaching another gospel, Paul said, which
is not another, let him be anathema, cast out, undone. This is serious
business. This is serious. I mean, we're
sitting here right now and we're breathing creatures and we're
hearing something. And I'm telling you, if Almighty
God doesn't give us a heart to believe this and to rejoice in
it and to bow to it, to bow to the sovereign God of this universe,
if He leaves us to ourselves thinking, no big deal. Take it or leave it. Hit and
miss. In and out. Up and down. God, have mercy on our souls.
No other Scriptures. No other Word. What we know about
Him, He has revealed through His Word. And this is why we're
here. Tell me something about who God
is. Because I'm going to stand before
Him. I'm going to have to answer. I'm going to have to give account.
Every man is going to give account in that day. John saw heaven
opened. And what he saw was the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm telling you, I'm not here
to talk about angels. I'm not here to talk about...
I'm talking about Him. Him. What do you think of Christ? Everything is in Him. There's
nothing else to talk about. Somebody told Brother Henry Mayhen
one time, they said, I think you've made an idol out of Jesus
Christ. Henry said, well, I suppose I'm going to thank you for that. Who else are you going to worship? heaven opened, the way that God
has been pleased to manifest Himself, the Lord Jesus, all
things, Matthew 11, 27, all things. Now, this is the God-man speaking. This is God manifest in the flesh. This is God as a man. He's a man. Body was prepared for Him. The
man, Christ Jesus, He said, All things are delivered unto me
of my Father. Everything was laid on Him. What
God chose to do and God purposed to do and God decreed to do and
God appointed to do, it was left up to one man, the man, the God-man. It was left up to one. to accomplish
it. All things delivered unto me
of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father." I told you what that means. It says, no man knows
the accomplishment and the ability of the Son except the Father. Who first trusted in Christ?
The Father. Who first trusted in Him? We
trust Him. But who first trusted Him? I'll
tell you who did. Almighty God. He trusted Him. Sent Him into this world. No
man knoweth the Son, but the Father. And neither knoweth any
man the Father, save the Son. Who knows what the Father demands?
Who knows what the Father expects? Who knows what the Father decrees?
Who knows who the Father shows? Who knows that? God knows that. And He to whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him. So what and who John saw was
totally by the grace of God. If you're sitting here this morning
and God has given you a heart of anxiousness, anticipation,
hungry, tell me something. Tell me something about Him.
I want my heart to be aflame this morning. I want to truly
just for a moment. You're looking at a frail creature
who walks out of this building. Let me just tell you, I know
me well enough. I'll walk out of this building
and I'll think just a little while. And I'm trying to remember
everything I preached. I know how you are because that's
how I am. But just for a moment, Lord, would you bless me right
now? I hate this flesh. I hate it. I'm so forgetful. I'm so frail. I forget. Carl, I don't want
to forget, but I do. Just for a moment, who'd John
see? Well, he saw first of all him
on a white horse. He saw the victor. pure, holy
conqueror, the King. And He was called, He was named, He was revealed
faithful, reliable. I said last week, reliable. Man, I love somebody that's reliable. Tell me, you know, You ever had
anybody tell you, say, I'll be there. I'll call somebody you
know. Reliable. Who is this reliable? He's faithful. Reliable to himself. Reliable to his father. Reliable
to his people. And true. Truthful. Truthful. Man, just tell me the
truth. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to
me. Just look. Just tell me. Just
tell me. Just tell me straight up. I'd
rather you tell me from now. Now, I'm not going to do that. No. OK. Truth. Truthful of who God is. Man, don't you rejoice in knowing
something about who God is really not left up to debate. Is he
sovereign or is he not? Is he trying or is he not? Is
he, you know, how is he? Is he, you know, how men disrespectfully
speak up? You know, the old man upstairs.
I hated to even say that, Gary. I wish I wouldn't have said that.
Disrespectful. Disrespectful. I've told people,
I said, man, listen, nobody loves a good joke better than me. Don't
tell me one about God. Don't, don't, don't do that.
Please don't. Tell me something I'd rather
hear something that was just off color than tell me something. Then don't tell me that one either,
that I'm just frail enough to laugh. Don't do that. Who God is, truthful. Who man
is. Man doesn't want to know what
he really is. Not until God gives him a new heart. You tell a man
that he's a worm and he's a maggot. You know, I had an uncle one
time. He came and sat and listened to a man that was faithfully
preaching the gospel, Kevin. He sat there about three weeks
and finally he just said, that's it, I'm not coming back. Why?
Why Bill? Why are you not coming back?
That's my uncle. Why are you not? He told me I'm
a sinner. Truthful. Who God is. Truthful
as to God's purpose concerning salvation. Faithful and true. One who in righteousness is going
to judge and make war. Everything is going to be done
in the day of God's judgment according to absolute righteousness. How do you measure up? Listen,
if you are not holy. How holy? As God is holy. If you are not as holy as God
is holy, you're going to hell. You think,
wow, how can that be? Only being found, chosen in,
represented by, having the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ charged
to you. that God would look upon you
and see His righteousness, and He will say unto you, being found
in Him, well done." Now, I'm honest with you, I want to know
something about this, because this is not, you know, something
to make light of. I'm telling you, we're dying
creatures. We're going to leave this world.
Lord, I don't want to leave this world without a substitute. I
don't want to leave this world without one to answer for me.
Faithful and true. Well, John saw Him. He saw Him,
the faithful and true Lord Jesus Christ who in righteousness judges
and makes war. And then in verse 12, this is
where I want to stay for just a minute. John said about this
one, He's omniscient. What does that mean? He knows
all things because He created and orders all things. It's not
that He just happened to look out there and just say, oh, well,
now there's something I didn't... It's not that He'll just look
down and discover. He never discovers anything.
Heard someone say one time, has it ever occurred to you that
nothing has ever occurred to God? He made all things for Himself. He orders all things for Himself. Therefore, He knows all things.
Why? Because He has made them thus. He is omniscient. John said His
eyes were as a flame of fire. Psalm 14, 2 and 3 says, He looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. And they're all gone aside. They're all together become filthy.
There's none that doeth good. No, not one. And it doesn't matter
what you or I think. I'm just as good as the next
man. Well, yeah, probably so. But that doesn't mean anything
because there's none good. He may be just as good, but there's
none good. So, therefore, what I'm comparing
myself to is not good. There's none that seek God. You
say, well, I think a man can. No, he can't. Not seek God in His holiness,
in His majesty, in His sovereignty. And about no man seeks God the
way He is. Now, men will seek a God of their
imagination. They'll make up a God. You know,
I can make up a God that I can please, because really, that
God is me. I'm the only other alternative.
It's a God of my imagination, it's a God that I created. If
I decide to sit down and paint something after it's painted,
I'm going to tell you right now, I saw that, maybe not in its
completeness. I may have fine-tuned it as much
as I can. But I'm telling you, I saw it
in my mind because what I had to do is I had to hire some people
to stand there the way I told them to stand there and I had
to photograph them because I cannot paint what I can't see. I have
to look at something. I don't make it up. I hire them
and I take a picture. But in my mind, I told them what
to do. So therefore, I saw that. I created that. That was what
I thought. Same thing with my God. I made him up and I can please
him too because I do not make him in my mind to exceed my expectations
or my ability to accomplish. That's why a man without God
doesn't go crazy and frustrated all the time because he's not
frustrated because his God does not exceed his expectations. John said his eyes were as a
flame of fire. Righteousness. I cannot perceive
the righteousness of God. I cannot perceive the judgment
of Almighty God. I cannot perceive the holiness
of God. Those eyes that saw all men and
all of them were wicked. All of them were evil. But it
says, Noah, He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now you
think about this. What was the difference in Noah
and everybody else? What was the difference between
Noah and everyone else? Number one, in Noah, nothing. In Noah, there was no difference. Noah was evil. Noah was wicked. Noah didn't seek God. Noah didn't
love God. There were none. There were none,
including Noah. But God was pleased to look at
Noah as being found and chosen and appointed in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God Almighty looked at Noah
in mercy for Christ's sake only. Only. There was no difference
in Noah. Chosen in Christ. His eyes were as a flame of fire. And John said in verse 12, And
on his head were many crowns. The crowns of majesty, the crowns
of kingship. Who could count them? Who could
count the crowns upon the Lord Jesus Christ? I'll tell you this. Let me just mention a few. He
possessed the essential crown of Godhead. There's one. He's God. Deserving. God Almighty. John 1 says, In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. Who is He? He wears the crown
of being God Almighty. Whenever His apostles looked
upon Him, more later in those later epistles, John said, you
know, we touched Him. God Almighty, the King of glory. We listened to Him talk. We knew
who He was. He asked Peter, who do men say
that I am? Some say this, some say that. Who do you say I am?
He said, You're God, Messiah. Secondly, He has the personal
crown of being the Messiah Himself, the God-Man. Let me ask you this. Turn over to 1 Timothy 3.16.
1 Timothy 3.16. Without controversy, Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory."
Now, you think about this. There is one Messiah. There is one God-man. There is
one. And He wears the essential crown. He's God and He's the God-man. There's one who reveals the mystery
of godliness, the mystery, the amazement of godliness. How were you or how was I going
to have any hope? I fell in the garden. I'm a sinner. I'm a rebel against God. I was
conceived in sin. I came forth from my mother's
womb speaking lies. I'm a sinner by choice. I'm a
sinner by practice. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I'm
a sinner. I'm undone. I mean, how honest
do I need to get? Leave me to myself. God cannot
do anything but be just. He's a just God. No plea bargain. None. I'm not going to talk him
out of it. Leave me to myself and I'm undone.
What is the mystery of Godliness? God was manifest in the flesh. God tabernacled, came into this
world to live and die, to redeem His people, to save them from
their sins. That Word was made flesh. Here's
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
and He was justified in the Spirit. That is, shown or exhibited by
the Spirit of God. It was the Spirit of God that
exhibited who He was in the formation. of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the formation of Himself in the womb of a virgin. Matthew 1.18, Now the birth of
Jesus Christ was on this wise when, as His mother Mary was
a spouse to Joseph before they came together, she was found
with child of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost. He was set forth
and justified by the Spirit of God. He was justified by the
Spirit to be the Messiah. It is baptism. The Scripture
says in Matthew 3,16, And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up
straightway out of the water, and, lo, the heavens were opened
unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and lighting upon him. The Spirit of God in the form,
the likeness of a dove lit on. Heaven opened up. Then God said,
this is my beloved Son whom I am well pleased. No one else am
I well pleased except Him and those in Him, but it is always
Him. Led up of the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted of the devil, to be personally tried
and justified, shown to be faithful for His people. He was seen of
angels. the announcement that the Lord
Jesus Christ angels. 1 Peter 1.12. I want you to turn
there. 1 Peter 1.12. Concerning those things of salvation. It says, I tell you what, let's
read 1 Peter 1.8-12. Whom having not seen you love, in whom, though now
you see him not yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired
and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that
should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the
Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should
follow unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but
unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported
unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire
to look into. You realize that there are some
things that you that believe have a heart to understand and
to perceive something of redemption that angels look into but personally,
personally are not associated with because they never fell.
There are some things they look into with mace, The angels of
heaven. You that believe, you know something
of what it's like to be plagued with the presence of sin. And
those angels that didn't fall don't. They look into it with
amazement. They behold it. Scene of angels. That's what he says. Preached unto the Gentiles. There's
an amazing thing preached unto the Gentiles. Those Jews had never thought
that there'd ever be a Gentile ever saved. I was thinking this
morning about when those, that act of war, when those fellows
flew those airplanes into the World Trade Center and the spirit
of Americanism that would rise up and think, you invaded us. You've invaded this country.
You're worthy of prosecution, death. That was an act of war. This is our country. I love it. Men die for it. Women die for
it. These aggressors They stole some airplanes. They're
thieves. They're thieves. And they flew
those airplanes and they killed innocent people. What do they
deserve? Death. That's what they deserve.
Justice. Justice. Now, the little bit of animosity
that I would feel toward those that had killed American citizens And for you to tell me, you know,
God's got an elect among those people. I could perceive that.
I could enter in and say, well, Lord, give them a new heart.
I can enter that. But I mean, just for a moment
there, just for a second, I thought, you've got to be kidding me.
You mean those people that, yeah, yeah, those people. But to a
Jew, to think that a Gentile, that's not even up for debate.
Couldn't. Here's the mystery of godliness.
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on into the world. Not only did
they preach to them, but some of them believed it. And God
gave them a new heart. And he was received up into glory.
And there he is. Here is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, preached
unto the Gentiles, seen of angels, believed on into the world, and
God received him unto Himself. And now he ever liveth to make
intercession. pleading Himself. His presence answers. He answers for all His people. He wears the crown as a mediator. There is another one. Between
God and men, there is one. He said, I am the way, I am the
truth, I am the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. Not Me and Him, but by Me. Him. And then He wears the crown
made up of all of His people. John saw many crowns. Let me
read this, Isaiah 62, verse 1 to 4. For Zion's sake, for the church's
sake, for the elect's sake, will I not hold my peace? For Jerusalem's
sake, spiritual Jerusalem, spiritual city of peace, I will not rest
until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness And the
salvation thereof is a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall
see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory. And thou shalt
be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt be a crown. He's talking
to God's people. He's talking to the church. He's
talking to the elect. He's talking to the remnant.
Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord. and a royal diadem in the hand
of thy God, thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shalt
thy land any more be termed desolate, but thou shalt be called Hepzibah,
that is, my delight is in her, and thy name and thy land Beulah,
that is, married. For the Lord delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married." No more. What crowns? Many crowns,
John says. many crowns. And he had a name
back in Revelation. Let's just finish up here. The
latter part of verse 12. And he had a name written that
no man knew but himself. Oh, here we can but bow to the
glory of his person. He had a name that no man perceived,
no man understood himself. He's the only man that understood.
He's the only man that knew. Who shall declare this generation? Who shall declare that they have
a full apprehension of Him? I mean, we study and we look and
we pray and we listen and we hear and we contemplate. I stand here this morning and
I'm going to tell you, I prophesy in part I preach in part. There's things that I set forth
that I admit to you this morning. I've told you before. This is
so far over my head. I don't understand the depth
of what I'm saying. I mean, I understand. I preach
in part. I know in part. I see through
a glass darkly. I see. Someone says, Marvin, explain
that to me. I can't explain this to you. Explain to me how God
would... I can't. I can't. But you know,
our hope is not in our completeness of the knowledge of Him. That's
not where my hope is. Here's all my hope. He says,
I've loved you with an everlasting love. Here's my hope. with me an everlasting covenant. And He said it was ordered in
all things. Or, all things are in order. They're sure. They're settled. And you know what? That's good
enough. I will rest my soul on that. Because if He has given me a
heart to believe Him, right there, I can lay down. I can say all
is well. It is well with my soul. Who
is He, John? I tell you, He is the omniscient
God. He knows all things. On His head
are many crowns. He wears them all. And He had a name written. He
had a character that no man knew but himself. No one understood. And no other man that can declare
this man save himself. May the Lord be pleased to just
give us some understanding this morning and to rejoice in the
Lord Jesus Christ. All right. Let's take a moment
break and we'll come back.