In light of that passage that
Brother Scott just read, turn with me while I make this
comment to Revelation 19. But in light of what he just
read, the song that we sang, Oh, the Unsearchable Riches of
Christ, when he cried out, My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me." I can understand, I can enter
into this thought that the Lord Jesus Christ would
pay the debt of all of His people by giving of Himself shedding
His blood just to make the payment of it. Now, I can understand
that. You owe a debt at the bank. You owe them a thousand bucks. And someone comes in and just
says, I'll make that payment for you. I'll pay that debt. The president of the bank would
be thrilled to death to see you. He'd be thrilled to death to
see you. He wouldn't forsake you. He'd be glad somebody came in
and paid that debt. But if, on the other hand, you can't pay the debt, You can't make good on the thousand
dollars. And you come before the president
of the bank. And the only other alternative
is for that bank to forsake you and execute judgment on you for
you yourself. Now that right there is a different
color. I can understand the Lord Jesus
Christ just paying the debt. But the unsearchable riches of
Christ is on this wise. What Marvin, Scott, you men,
you ladies that believe, what you owed, what you are, what
you The culmination of an entire lifetime, of just my lifetime,
of not only what I owed for every act of rebellion, every act,
every thought, and not just me, but for all of God's elect, for
all of time, what they owed not only in this lifetime, Gary,
but what they'd owe for eternity, what they would owe God for eternity. All of them. The Lord Jesus Christ
was made what they are, what they owed. He was made sin. He was made what His people are. The holy, undefiled, the harmless
One who knew no sin of His own accord. He prayed, Father, if
this cup could pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but
Thine be done. Now there is the unsearchable
riches. I cannot, my mind cannot comprehend
Him becoming me and paying my debt as me. made to be Marvin. And what Marvin would owe, and
not only Marvin, but all of his people for all of eternity. Now that's substitution. That's the payment. That's what
he did. To go in and pay a debt, I can understand that. But to
be made sin. David the adulterer, Peter the
denier, Paul the blasphemer. All that his people owed, Paul
said, I was crucified. I was crucified with him, a substitute,
a true substitute. And when all of his people for
all of eternity In the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, there
is the unsearchable riches of His grace. When He hung on that
cross, you know why the Father forsook Him? Because He was there
as a substitute. A substitute. He didn't come down. He saved others, but He couldn't
save Himself. That's a true statement. He bowed to the will of his Father. Well, I heard a man say this morning
on television, he was talking about man's ability to accept
what the Lord Jesus Christ had made available. He said, you know why God put
the tree in the garden? He said, why He put that tree
and told Adam and Eve, don't eat of it. He said, you know
why He put it there? He said, because God doesn't
want robots. He wants servants that have a
free will to accept Him. He said, the only freedom that
there really is, is a man's free will. That's the only freedom.
I thought about that message that Mr. Spurgeon preached. Free
will is a slave. Free will is a slave. If Almighty God does not show
mercy to me and reveal to me what He has done for me, in spite
of me, I don't have any hope. If He has not paid by His own
precious blood, if His soul was made an offering, His very being,
look up that word, He hath made His soul an offering for sin. Do you know what you are? That's
what your soul is. Well, I guess I'd better get
on this chapter here. Revelation 19, verse 11, and the first part of verse 12,
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he
that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness
he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns. I'll stop there. In our last
study, we heard the voice of a great multitude, as many waters,
the Scripture says, saying, hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
God reigns. The marriage of the Lamb has
come. That means it appears. It is openly made manifest. There is a lot that we don't
see right now. God's people, they are in this
world and He is teaching them. revealing to them Himself, who
He is. And the world doesn't see it.
But one of these days, it's going to appear. It's going to be openly
made manifest. And His wife hath made herself
ready. And the next verse that we looked
at last week clarifies just exactly how She made herself ready. It says, to her was granted that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the
fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And when John
heard these things, he fell at the feet of one that was speaking
to him. He fell down to worship him.
But the speaker told him, see, thou do it not. He said, I'm
a fellow servant, a fellow servant of John and all that have the
testimony of Jesus Christ, the spirit of prophecy, the heart
to preach and to believe the gospel of Christ. Now today,
we're going to consider the Lord Jesus Christ as He is revealed
to be the glorious and the victorious captain of our salvation. That first verse we read, I saw
heaven opened. John saw something. He saw. He saw heaven. He knew. He perceived. He understood. Listen, when we're
going to look at what it meant when he said, I saw heaven opened,
there's some sitting here this morning that sees heaven opened. You perceive. He saw heaven. It says, Heaven, as we view the
language of Scripture, is said to be the immediate place where
Jehovah has fixed His throne. This is what the Scripture says
in Isaiah 66, verse 1, Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that ye build
unto me, and where is the place of my rest? In the words of God
Himself, He said, Heaven is my throne. Heaven is also referred
to as the church itself. That Scripture that we've looked
at many times, Matthew 13, 47, again the Lord Jesus speaking,
the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into
the sea and gathered of every kind which when it was full,
they drew to shore, and set down, and gathered the good into vessels,
but cast the bad away." The kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven
is His bride. The kingdom of heaven is the
place of His abode. But in reality, Almighty God
is omnipresent. You think, where is the Lord?
Well, He's in heaven. Well, He's omnipresent. He's
everywhere. He's in all things. So in the
immensity of His Godhead, truly, heaven is said to be Jehovah's
presence. But it's actually His presence
as known to His people in grace and favor and glory. The Lord
is everywhere. He's omnipresent. The universe
is in Him. He's God Himself. You can't place Him in one place. He's omnipresent. But heaven itself is opened unto
God's people as He opens their eyes and causes them to behold
Him in His mercy and grace, if by faith you see Him this morning. Heaven is open to you. Heaven
is revealed unto you. John, the Scripture says, saw
heaven opened, spoken freely. Heaven was spoken freely to John. When the Lord is pleased to reveal
Himself through the Word, heaven is opened to you. You see Him. You see Christ. Revelation 15
verse 5 says, And after that I looked, and behold, the temple
of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. John saw. So to have heaven opened is to
behold or to have revealed the speaking of God's presence to
you. You're sitting next to someone.
What are they hearing? Well, if they see heaven opened,
they see Christ Himself, the glory of Almighty God. Ezekiel said in Ezekiel 1.1,
I was among the captains by the river Kibar that the heavens
were opened and I saw visions of God. Or, I saw the countenance
of God Himself. What do we know of Almighty God? We know exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ reveals to us. concerning the being of God. The Lord said, to see Me is to
see the Father. What do we know? We know Him. We're learning. Constantly learning. He's teaching His people and
settling His people. Every time you hear the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ and you hear what the Lord has done
for us, for God's glory and our good, heaven's open. The revelation
of God Himself. John, who had seen the Lord Jesus
in His humiliation, leaned on his breast, saw Him, watched
Him. Now, symbolically, he beholds
Him as the heavens are opened and he is riding on a white horse. That white horse. It is a symbol.
This is a vision. It is the vision. And here he
is in the vision. White horse of leadership. He's
the head of His body, the church, the symbol of power. He's on
a horse. Matthew 28, 18 says, All power
is given unto Me in heaven and earth. Here's the heavens open. What if somebody is hearing the
same Word that you're hearing right now, and Almighty God doesn't
reveal anything to them? What do they see? Nothing. Nothing. But if he's pleased to open heaven
to you, Christ Himself to you, I tell you how you see Him. You
see Him as the boss, the victor, the white horse rider. John sees Him upon that white
horse and he's made to behold Him in all of His attributes.
He says, He that sat upon Him was called faithful and true. Faithful and true to His covenant,
His promise, What God Almighty has promised, God Almighty performs. He does. Thou shalt call His
name Jesus. Why? He shall save His people. He shall save them. What if He
leaves it up to them to make a decision? He won't. He'll give
them a heart and they will come. He won't leave it to themselves.
He's going to give them a new spirit. He'll write His law,
His Word. I've said before, you think of
the law of God. Does God's people love the law
of God? Sure they do. Paul says it's
holy and just. It's right. What's the problem?
I just can't keep it myself. He will. He does. He shall. He's worthy. He that sat upon that horse was
faithful and true, trustworthy. Can you trust Him? Can you trust Him? If He gives
you a heart for Him, you can. You do. Why do you trust Him? Because He keeps you. He gives
you a heart to believe Him, rest in Him. And in righteousness,
John said, He that sat on that horse, that white horse. He doth
judge and make war. The Messiah, He's both the judge... That word right there, the meaning
of it just really opened up some understanding to me. He's the
judge, the distinguisher, or the decider. That's the judge. You know, when you... You go
before a judge. You know, all the evidence can
be laid out there. Everybody hears everything, the
jury and everybody. But do you know what the bottom
line is going to be? Whatever that judge says. If
that judge says, I rule, that's the way it is. And when you walk
out of that courtroom, whatever that judge says, That's the way
it is. And to the full extent of the
law, His judgment is going to be enforced. He in righteousness
doth judge. He does exactly as He pleases. The judge. Things are as He says
they are. The Son of Man is the judge. He comes in righteousness. He
comes justified to judge and to destroy all who bow not to
Him. Absolute judgment cannot and
can never be at peace with rebellion. Never. Only one thing can be
done to rebellion as far as Almighty God is concerned. It's going
to be put down. Put down. Put away. Almighty
God is going to judge in righteousness, and rest assured, the day of
reckoning is coming. 2 Corinthians 5.10 says, ìFor
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that
everyone may receive the things done in his body according to
that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.î All sons of
Adam, everybody, must appear before the judgment seat of the
Lord Jesus Christ in all judgment has been committed unto the Son. Boy, I tell you what, let me
tell you something that gives me some comfort, is to know that
He who is the Judge that will absolutely judge in righteousness,
if that Judge right there has answered for me If He is the
One that put away my guilt, if He is the One that has satisfied
Almighty God Himself, I've got some peace. If I stand before
Him that has answered God's law for me perfectly, if Almighty
God has raised Him from the dead, accepting exactly what He did
for me, I've got some hope. He's going to judge in righteousness.
But all who have no interest, no righteousness imputed of the
Lord Jesus Christ, will in that day give account for every idle
word, every idle thought, every act of rebellion committed in
this life, which is every one of them. There's none good. No, not one. All the thoughts,
all the imagination of man as born in Adam is evil continually. You say, you mean to tell me
that people that have never bowed to the Lord Jesus Christ has
never thought one good thought? That's exactly what I'm saying.
You've never done one good thing. How about good deeds? You don't
have any. How about kindness shown? You've never done anything
kindly. You've never done anything according
to God's standard. Maybe according to your standard.
Maybe according to my standard, you've been pretty good. But
according to Almighty God, never. Every thought of the imagination
of man was evil. He doth judge and make war. Turn over to Isaiah 11. Isaiah
chapter 11. Isaiah 11, verse 1, And there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, a branch shall
grow out of his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest
upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit
of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, of fear of the
Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding. in the fear of
the Lord, and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness
shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek
of the earth. And he shall smite the earth
with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall
he slay the wicked, and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." Our Lord is the judge. and He judges in righteousness. Revelation 6 says, And I saw
and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow,
and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering
and to conquer. He is the God of war. He is the Lord of glory. The
One that loved us, that is His people, God's elect, and gave
Himself for us, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved
us. In the glorious possession of
the Bride, the Lord Jesus Christ has rescued her from the captivity
of Satan and the dominion of sin. God Almighty does battle. He wars. She must be rescued. And He rescues her with the arm
of His power. The faithful and true one must
make war to deliver her, that is, His church, not only from
herself but also from the sin that she loves. He must make
war. This war was finished at Calvary. His precious blood accomplished
the redemption of His people. He does battle. John said, I
saw him sitting on a horse, a white horse, and in righteousness he
judges and makes war. He went to battle for his people. His obedience to God's law is
our obedience. But you remember who obeyed.
He's the faithful one. He's the just one, faithful and
true. He doth judge and make war. And John says in verse 12, And
his eyes were as a flame of fire. Man by nature foolishly thinks
that God doesn't see. I know that man thinks that.
I know how I always thought, before the Lord was pleased to
reveal Himself to me. I foolishly and ignorantly thought
that God didn't see. You know why? Because I just
kept doing what I was doing, rebelling against God and not
knowing that I was rebelling. I did not think that Almighty
God sees. John says His eyes were as a
flame of fire. Genesis 6-5 says, And God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. He saw. God knows. Genesis 6-12, And
God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all
flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. You know why men and
women do not right now, left to themselves, you know why?
They have no heart. to sit and to hear the glorious
gospel of free grace. You know why? Because they don't
believe God sees. They don't. You know why men continue doing
what they're doing? Openly rebellious against Almighty
God. Hating Christ. Hating, as Brother
Scott says, men that hate God. And that is, That's true. That's what the Scripture says.
Despisers. You know why? Because they don't
think God sees. His eyes were as a flame of fire. Hebrews 4.13 says, "...neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight. But
all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom
we have to do." They don't think he sees. He does. But before I leave this
point, these same eyes are aflame with love for his people. He
looks upon all apart from his Son and sees absolute, total
rebellion against Almighty God. And he judges in righteousness. But to His people, He looks upon
them in the person of their surety. Here is the one who was made
sin. And looking upon them in their
surety, in their head, in their representative, God is going
to deal with all men in one of two people. Either Adam or the
Lord Jesus Christ. And looking upon them, His people,
in their surety, this is what is said concerning Noah and all
like him. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. His eyes were a flame of fire
that burned in affection for them. That is the most amazing
thing I've ever heard, that Almighty God who sees all. He's not sweeping
anything under the table. No rug lifted here and dust swept
under there, you know. I might slip something away from
you and hide a little trash and you just don't see it. Almighty
God knows all. His eyes are a flame of fire. The eyes of His omniscience by
which the righteous are seen and known. He looks upon them
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, obedient. Well done,
thy good and thankful servant! When? He said, looking on you in the
person of Christ, looking upon His obedience. You remember the woman that had
the issue of blood? We looked at this a few weeks
ago. We live by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. The faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He looked on that woman. Christ
Himself looked on her when she touched Him. He says, Woman,
your faith hath made thee whole. What did He say? I made you whole. Him. He's the obedient one. And what He's done is charged
to us. Do you understand that? I believe Him today. Why? Because He's faithful. His righteousness
is charged to me. Accounted to my account. That's
what imputation means. Accounted to you. These are the eyes that run to
and fro throughout this whole world to show Himself on the
strong behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. Nothing can be said of God's
people that's not said concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. As He
is, so are we in this world. As He is, as He is. He's the
righteous One. We are in Him. He speaks for
us. We're in Him. We're His body.
Where the head goes, the body goes. Where the head is, the
body is. Where the head is, the body has
always been. He's always been the surety.
He's always been the Master. He's always been the Husband.
He's never changed. And on His head, John said, were
many crowns. Many? Many crowns? Well, I thought there'd be one,
you know, one. A crown. He's the right note. John says many crowns. Many. These crowns. Diadems is what
the word is. Many diadems. The victor's crown
is what it was. You think of, I know in my mind,
as soon as I read it, I thought of a crown. Like a, you know,
a crown. A golden crown. This word is
like that wreath that the Greeks, you know, when they'd have the
Olympics and stuff like that, it was that wreath. It was a
victor's wreath is what it was. That was their prize, to be able
to wear that little victor's wreath, the diadem, the crown. And John said on his head there
were many crowns, many victor's crowns. Symbols of triumph is
what it means. The token of public honor whenever
someone, they ran the race and they won. They won the race.
They got it. And they got to wear that victor's
crown and could go out before and people would look and say,
oh, there's the one. He won. He was the one that won.
He won that race. The mile run. He won it. That's the mile run race. That
right there. Look at Him. He could walk and
people would behold it and see it. Our Lord, when He wore the
crown or the diadem of His humility, they placed a crown of thorns
on Him. Here He was. He humbled Himself. Humbled Himself. I thought on
that word right there. No man, no man is born in Adam
could humble himself. He just can't do it. As I said
before, we'd be proud of it, proud of his humility. But here
the Lord Jesus Christ, perfectly, perfectly, I just can't even
imagine how perfectly He could humble Himself a servant. And He wore the crown of thorns
and suffered our curse. bled as our substitute and died
as our Redeemer. He wore the crown of humility. But now, John says, he has on
his head many crowns, many diadems, many victor's crowns. Exactly
how many? I don't know. Numberless. Who
could number the unsearchable riches of His grace? But you consider just a few. I'll just throw out a few. How
about the triumphant surety of the sheep before the foundation
of the world? The surety. Almighty God the
Father entrusted to Him. The Lord said in John 17, He
says, as many as you gave Me. How many did He give Him? A number
that no man can number, but Almighty God knows. Known of the Lord. His sheep, His people. And here
was the one that was entrusted with the redemption of the sheep. God's people that fall in Adam. In time, they fell in Adam. Before
the foundation of the world, he was the surety. Has He answered for them? Yes,
He has. There is His crown. The crown
of the surety. The obedient servant called by
the Father. He came into this world. He was
made flesh. And the God-man. Brothers, God
said as much man as if He was never God. As much God as if
He was never man. Not half God, half man. Totally
man. Totally God. Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest, made open in
the flesh. And here He is as the Man, the
God-Man, and He walked perfectly. Every thought, every word, every
deed, the Father said, That's My beloved Son, and I'm well
pleased with Him. There is the crown, the diadem
of His obedience. There is the victor right there.
There is the one that won the race. He walked perfectly. The Redeemer, the Lamb. Abraham and Isaac were walking
up a hill. Isaac said, Father, here is the
fire. Here is the wood. Where is the
Lamb? And he said, my son, God will
provide Himself a lamb. And He did. And perfectly, perfect
obedience before Almighty God, He hung as the sheep's Redeemer. And obeyed God perfectly. Not my will, but Thine be done.
And the Lord Jesus Christ Where is the crown of redemption? Worthy. Worthy. The intercessor
for all of His elect. But in closing, I want you to
turn with me to Isaiah 62. And I'll tell you this, this
is some good news to you that believe. For all that God has
everlastingly loved, Isaiah 62, verse 1, for Zion's sake, that
is, for God's church, for Zion's sake will I not hold my peace. And for Jerusalem's sake 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 the righteousness in all kings thy glory, And thou
shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall
name. 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 Hephzibah." That is, my delight is in her. and thy land, Beulah, married. For the Lord delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a
virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth
over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." Let me
tell you, the Lord said, you're not going to be termed. That
word termed there means called by others or yourself. No more. Your name is not going to be
called forsaken, but you're going to be called or addressed. The church is her Lord's glory. She is the many crowns on His
head. John said, I saw heaven was opened,
and I saw Him sit on a white horse. He was victorious. He was powerful. What He had
done is He had made war. And by His own power and might
and purpose, He by His own hand, by His own might, by His own
ability, He made war and He redeemed His people. And John said, his
eyes were as a flame of fire. He saw and he knew all things. And on his head were many crowns. All that he had everlastingly
loved, all that he had redeemed by blood, she is his crown. And he wears her victoriously. Everything that can be said about
him, victorious. Gloriously victorious. There
she is. He said, you're not going to
be called forsaken anymore. You're the Lord's glory. You're
going to be a royal diadem in His hand. Victor. You that believe. He's precious. He's precious. He saved you by His grace. And
through His gospel, He's going to call every one of you out.
They're going to hear His voice and they're going to come to
Him and say, Lord, that's salvation. That's not an offer. That's salvation. You saved me by Your grace. I
don't know how to thank You for that, but thank You. Okay, Gary.