Good to see you this morning. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Revelation 19. Revelation 19. Let's pray together. Our Father, this morning we approach
You as a people in need, in need of your teaching, your help,
your grace and mercy. We thank you for the privilege
to be able to meet. And we ask you now to bless your
word to our understanding. And blessed, we pray to your
honor. And we ask these things for Christ's
sake. Amen. after John saw and heard one
that was referred to actually as a voice. Verse 5, it came
out of the throne. And this voice told John some
things that took the apostle back. Blessed are those that are called
to the marriage supper of the Lamb. These are the true sayings
of God. John felt compelled to fall down
and worship Him, and the speaker said, don't do that. I'm a fellow
servant just like you are. Worship God. And then in verse
11, this is where we'll look this morning. I started to go
over the notes that I've written out that I hope will be a help
to you and try to put down some of my thoughts. And as I began
yesterday to kind of go over a little review of the notes,
I looked at the first line of verse 11. and I saw heaven opened. And I considered that line for
just a moment and I saw four things in that opening line right
there that I'd like to consider this morning concerning God's
sovereignty. John said, saw heaven opened. Here's the first truth concerning
God's sovereignty, that Almighty God is sovereign in election. John said, I saw. You consider the wonder that
anyone sees. That's a miracle of God's grace
that anybody would see something of God's sovereignty. But here's
a miracle of God's grace that I see. And I know you that believe
say the same thing. We go places and see people,
and there's times that I will be somewhere. I might be in a
store and all of a sudden I look around and I think to myself,
as far as I know, except maybe someone that I'm aware of that's
with me or as far as I know, I might be the only one except
for this other person that has made up a good, consistent faithful
confession of faith, I may be the only one here that I know
of that God has been pleased to show mercy to. Now, you know, I know that the
world is going to look at that and they're going to say, you
know what, that's got to be the most arrogant and presumptuous
statement that I've ever heard. You honestly believe that you
Maybe the only one in this store, in this place, you think that... Yeah. Yeah, I really do. What makes you think that you,
as far as I know, the only one that I know of that has made
a confession of faith in Christ, that has beheld Him in His absolute
sovereign grace." I don't know of anyone else.
Someone says, that's arrogance. I say it's mercy. That anybody
believes. I admit it. I admit if anybody
believes it's by the grace of God. But that God would reveal
Himself to me Elijah said, Lord, they're all of them, you know. And the Lord says, Elijah, I've
reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to
the image of Baal, even so then at this present time as a remnant
according to the election of grace. But how do you know who
they are? I'll tell you how they're going
to know. all that God Almighty has called
out of darkness. They are going to bow to God's
sovereign grace. They will bow to Him. And they
will say, Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is all of grace. And it is not by works of righteousness
that I have done. But it is according to His mercy
that He saved me. I saw what Phibosheth was over
in Lodibar. We talked about this. David says,
is there any of the house of Saul that I may show kindness
to, mercy to, compassion to for Jonathan's sake? One boy, lame
on both his feet. Go fetch him. Can't walk here
by himself. Go get him. Go get him and bring
him here. That's what happens when God
calls one of his own. He fetches him. He gets him.
And they brought that boy and they set him at David's table.
And this is what Mephibosheth said, What is thy servant that
thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? Thanks be to God. He has chosen
us in Him. before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will."
God's people are not arrogant when they say, God has shown
mercy to me. Because I know that He's given
me a heart to trust Him. Paul says, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. I saw heaven opened. Romans 9, 15, Paul quoting that
which God told Moses. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I'll have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. This is what I know out of this
verse right here. John said, I saw. God is sovereign in electing
grace. Secondly, God is sovereign in
our understanding. John said, I saw heaven opened. John perceived what man by nature
cannot. I saw men see natural things. You know, they look around and
they behold things every day that only a regenerated sinner
is going to understand concerning God's glory. Ephesians 1.18 says that the
eyes of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know
what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory
of His inheritance is in the saints. When God is pleased to
enlighten, John said, I saw, I perceived, that I can understand
is by the grace of God. That God would give me a heart
is amazing, but that He would give me a heart to see. Let me tell you what a believer
sees. I tell you, he sees something
of himself. That's the first thing he sees.
He sees something of his inability. He sees something of himself,
his sin, his rebellion against God. He sees something of the
insufficiency of his own righteousness. I can do nothing. And he believes that before God
calls a man out of darkness. You think that you can do something. You honestly think. That there's
something that you can do. You walk down an aisle, be baptized,
read your Bible, pray through, witness. Something, something. There's something that you think,
even to the point of coming down to saying, well, I'm just as
good as the next guy. And that somehow in your mind,
you believe that that's, you know, a believer. see something of
the beauty and the glory of God Almighty having mercy in the
person of His Son. Let me just read 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1 verse 3 to 9, According
as His divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him
that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye may
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust." And besides this, given
all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience, to patience godliness,
to godliness brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that
ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things
is blind, cannot see, cannot see afar off. and have forgotten
that he was purged from his old sins." You know, whenever you
read that and Peter says he's forgotten that he was purged
from his old sins, I've said this before, but it bears bringing
out again. It's not that God purged us and then we just forgot about
it. That's not what he's saying.
What he's saying is the wording is such that you'll understand
it better when it says, he has forgotten that he was purged
from his old sins. It means for an unbeliever, those
that lacks these things and dies in that unbelief, there is a
spirit of forgetfulness that he was ever purged from his sins
is what he's saying. John said, I saw." Thirdly, God is sovereign in providence. John said, I saw heaven opened. I got to thinking yesterday about
heaven, heaven. We talk about wanting to go to
heaven. Heaven is revealed to be what
God says it is. Isaiah 66, verse 1 says, Thus
saith the Lord. The heaven is my throne. The earth is my footstool. The Lord spoke in Matthew 5.34,
but I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for
it is God's throne, neither by earth, it's God's footstool. Heaven, when we speak of heaven,
based upon what our Lord has revealed heaven to be. is the place of God's rule. That's what it's talking about.
Heaven. Heaven is my throne. David said in Psalm 115 verse
3, But our God is in the heavens, and He hath done whatsoever He
hath pleased. Nebuchadnezzar, I've said this,
quoted this many times, what a great setting forth of God's
rule. Daniel 4.35, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? Heaven. Ephesians 1.11, In whom
also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will. Psalm 46.6, The heathen raged. The kingdoms were moved. He uttered
His voice and the earth melted. Almighty God is sovereign in
providence, in power, in rule. He is sovereign in electing grace. He is sovereign in understanding.
He is sovereign in rule, in power. And then fourthly, God is sovereign
in revelation. John said, I saw heaven opened. Deuteronomy 29.29 says this,
The secret things belong unto the Lord. But those things which
are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that
we may do all the words of this law. The God of all grace
has an everlastingly loved people. He made an everlasting covenant
with those people, a covenant of grace with those elect, and
made it in Christ. And all of the details, all of
the requirements of that covenant, that agreement, was made from
before the foundation of the world, eternal covenant. And
he did all these things that he might bring his people to
himself in absolute mercy, compassion and justice in the person of
Christ. Now, in the fall of Adam, all
things pertaining to our mercy and grace, showing mercy to us,
all of those things were lost in our understanding. We don't
understand. We don't perceive. But God has
always been pleased to reveal Himself to us by the Spirit of
God. So the elect of God, they're
insensitive and they're blind and lost to their understanding
just like anybody else is until God opens their eyes. Paul said
in Galatians 1, 15, 16, When it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately
I conferred not with flesh and blood." So the glorious truth
of God's grace is wonderful to behold. Because it's to His saints that
He's pleased to reveal anything. John said, as we considered a
few moments ago, he said, I saw that, you know, I understood,
I perceived. Now that was a miracle of God's
grace, but here in this last word, I saw heaven opened. The difference between John seeing
and what was revealed is what he's talking about right here.
It's a miracle of God's grace that I see. That's a given. But this last part, the word
opened, deals with what he saw. Or let me say it like this, who
he saw. He saw the glorious blessing
of God's revelation. John says in Revelation 19, And
I saw heaven opened. He says, And behold, a white
horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. That men see is so. because God gives eyes and ears
of faith to believe. God gives faith. They saw faith. But I'll tell you this, the hope
is actually who they see by the faith that God gives. They see
by faith. Who do they see their hope? It's
Christ. Isaiah said in Isaiah 6, verse
1, ìIn the year that King Uzziah died, I sawÖî Who did you see,
Isaiah? Also the Lord. ìÖsitting upon
a throne, high and lifted up, and His train, His glory, everything
about it filled the temple.î God Almighty is sovereign. Sovereign in election. Sovereign
in understanding. Sovereign in providence. And
sovereign in the glorious understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ. Next
week, Lord willing, I'd like to pick up where John says, And
behold, a white horse. That's where I'll pick up. That's
who he saw. But next week, we'll look at that portion of it. All
right, let's take just a minute and we'll come back.