So really just the last part
of verse five, we looked at the first part of verse five in Revelation
one last time, and we'll look at the last part of it. Really, in my opinion, I don't
know why they didn't just put the verse division after earth
there, right? Where the sentence ends and a
new sentence begins. because the last part of verse
five and all of verse six is one sentence. So why not have
it like that? Doesn't make any difference.
The verse divisions are there just as a guide. So, but that's
why we're looking at it that way tonight. It's one sentence
from unto him. It begins that way, unto him.
And I want you to notice the word though, at the beginning
of verse five, from him. Because now we're talking about
unto him. So notice that it says from him at the beginning of
verse five, from Jesus Christ. There is a from and an unto. And it's important that we see
that from Christ, grace and peace. Where else is that gonna come
from? But him. And that's unto us,
you see that? grace and peace to you from Him. And then unto Him, glory and
dominion. It's unto Him and that's not
from us in the sense that we're able to bestow any glory or add
any glory to Him. He gets glory in saving us. But
it's not us that really glorify him in this sense. Now think
about this with me. We are in agreement with it,
this is a benediction, we bless God, we bless him, we desire
this, and we're happy about it, we want this. We want glory and
dominion to be unto him. But it's the father that the
son prayed to in John 17, The Son, the Lord Jesus, is who we're
talking about. He prayed to the Father, glorify
thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was. So God is the one that glorifies
him. He glorifies himself and the
Father glorifies the son, and also dominion. In that same prayer
in John 17, he spoke of dominion. He said this in verse two, as
thou has given him, me, he said, power over all flesh, dominion,
ability, strength, power, authority, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou has given him. So glory and dominion, that
Christ that are his come from himself, from the father, from
God glorifies himself. The father glorifies the son
and so does the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, he said, will
take the things of mine and show them to you. He won't glorify
himself, he'll glorify me and he does. Think about this, so
grace and peace flow from him to us and glory and dominion
are attributed unto him by us. They don't come from us, but
we attribute them to him. And this is a simple matter.
It's simple, isn't it? It's a simple equation. He saved
us, and so we say, he saved us. Grace and peace is, is just another
way of saying salvation. Peace with God, that's salvation. Grace from God, we're saved by
grace through faith. It's salvation, right? So he
saved us, and so what do we do? We say, look who saved us. We
didn't save ourselves, not unto us, but unto his name be glory. It's that simple, isn't it? It's
our testimony. Our salvation is by his grace,
verse four, and so naturally all the glory goes to him, verse
six. So there's a bestowment from
him to us, and then there's an attribution of glory and dominion
from us to him. May he be glorified. We pray
that just about every time somebody prays here. Lord, may you be
glorified in this. May this redound to your glory
and honor. And since he gave that grace,
and peace, he bestowed that on us, and so he gets all the glory
for it, but he bestowed that grace and peace upon us sovereignly,
right? He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy. And so all dominion is also attributed
to him. Glory and dominion. He created
all things. And for his pleasure they are
and were created, Revelation 4.11, creation. He doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of this earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? Providence, Daniel 4.35. And
he has mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he
hardeneth, Romans 9.18, salvation. So in creation, in providence,
in salvation, we attribute all glory and dominion unto him.
Does that seem reasonable to you? Since he made everything,
runs everything, and saves who he wants to save? Kind of sounds
like the right thing to do, doesn't it? But boy, how few will, how
few do. How few would say that that's
the thing to do in this world, in this religious world? Not
very many, not very many, but by God's grace, not only do we
bow to him, but we declare it about him, don't we? We want
everybody to know he's sovereign and that we're bowing to him
for a reason, because he's worthy of it. We praise him for it. It's not a reluctant submission,
we're real happy about it. But listen to this amazing sentence
one more time. Maybe just the description here
of the one to whom we attribute glory and honor, maybe just the
description of him here is the most beautiful part of this verse. Who is this from whom to us has
flowed grace and peace and to whom from us flows admiration
and adoration and praise as a result of what he did for us? Here's
who it is. It's him who loved us and. And I've got to stop right there
for a while. He loved us We got to talk about, for a little
while, that beautiful, powerful, glorious word, and. That's why it's gonna take us
six years to get through Revelation, because we got to talk about
and all night. But you think about this. God's love to this religious
world means that he wants to wash sinners clean. That's what
his love is to them, that he just wants. He has such a strong
desire. He wants everybody to be clean.
He wants to wash you. That's love to them. That takes
the and out of it, doesn't it? That's not the love of God that
he has revealed in this book. Thank God it's not, because it
leaves me in my sin. God's love is not wishing the
best for everybody. He loves indeed. Hasn't he taught
us to do that? Don't love in word only, but
indeed. And does he not love that way? Does
he just say, I love you, and then do nothing about it? You
can't define love without that word and. You can't define it
without and. You know how I know that? Because
here's the definition of love. Herein is love. I don't want
to see what Webster says about it. I didn't even look it up.
I don't care what Webster says love is. You know what I want
to know from what love is? The one who is love. I think
he can tell me, don't you? Here's what he says it is. Not
that we love God. If you're going to define love,
it's not something that comes from you and goes out to somebody
else. It's something we receive. from
the one who is love. Even if you love somebody else
and you may sincerely love them, you got that from God. He is
love. The fruit of his spirit is love,
even in you. You're not getting any glory
in any of it. It's his. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us. And. Herein is love and you can't
define it without that word. It's not just that he just wants
everything to turn out great for you, he loved us and he sent
his son to be something for us. Not to try something for us,
not to offer us anything, to be the propitiation for our sins. That's what love is, you can't
define it without and. To be, and you might say, well, those
words there to be are in italics. To be, what it really says is,
okay, let's take him out. That's fine with me. He sent
his son, the propitiation of our sins. There is no propitiation without
him. He is the propitiation for our sins. You see that? It's not something that's offered
and that we accept. It's a person. The forgiveness
of sins is somebody. You either have him or you don't
have him. He doesn't make it available.
He is. He doesn't just want it for you.
He is it for you. Or he's not. because he loves
us. In fact, the very definition
of love is that he is the propitiation for our sins. And that word means
appeasing or atonement. If you take the word our out
of that verse, listen to it again, here in his love, not that we
loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. If you take that word our out
of it, then nobody goes to hell. You understand that? Nobody does. If there's atonement for sin,
there's no hell, there's no punishment. Whoever he loved, whoever the
us is, is at one with God. That's what atonement is, at-one-ment.
That's what he prayed in that same prayer in John 17, that
they may be one, even as we are one. I in them and thou in me. Whoever he loved, whoever this
us is, is at one with God, their sins are atoned. And this and here, it means that
God's love is a whole lot more than just wanting you to be saved.
He loved you and he did something about it. His love is always
connected with that. It's connected with an accomplished
work. Every time. Listen to it, and if you can
turn fast, turn there if you want to, Galatians 2.20, listen
to this. Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ. This is
the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Galatia, I'm crucified
with Christ. There is a sense in which we
are dead in him, dead with him, dead to the law. Before we were
dead to God and alive unto sin. Now we're dead to sin and alive
unto God. What a difference. I'm crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, I have
physical life, I walk before God, yet not I. Because look,
if it is me, if it's me walking before God, I'm condemned. It's
not I, but Christ that liveth in me. We walk not after the
flesh, but after the spirit. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and. You see why the title of the
message to that is love and? Loved and. He loved me and he
gave himself for me. He gave himself for me. You see
that? He didn't love me and make everything
available to me. He didn't love me so much that
he gave me a chance. He loved me so much he gave himself
for me. And I hate to use the kind of
slang language, but he went all in, he was all in. It wasn't
him standing back and said, boy, I just hope everybody, you know
what I'm saying? I hope everything works out for everybody. I just
want everybody. That's not love. Does your love for your children
mean you just hope everything works out for them or do you
actually do something to see to it? God controls that too,
I understand that. but love does everything in its
power to see to it that the objects of that love are blessed. How much power does God have?
All power is given unto me that I might give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given me. And the way he gave us eternal
life is by giving himself for us. That's what we just read,
Ephesians 5.25. Listen, husbands love your wives,
even as Christ also loved the church, and you're not gonna
get away from it. And who would want to? Except
somebody that's just determined to say God loves everybody. It's
just not true. If he does, and he gave himself
for everybody, If he's the propitiation for everybody's sins, then nobody
goes to hell. And we just know better than
that, don't we? We just know better. I'll tell you this, whoever
he gave himself for, they're gonna be just fine. His love
is eternal, it's infinite, it's unchangeable, and it's perfect. Listen to this amazing verse.
I'd have you turn over there, but it's so short, you can't
miss it. I mean, you know what I'm saying?
It's easier sometimes to be looking at it, so you kind of remember
the relation of the words, but listen to this, Hosea 11.1. Hosea 11.1, listen to what God
said here. Very short verse, but so wonderful.
When Israel was a child, Then I loved him. Guess what the next word is. I'm gonna start it over. Listen
to it now. When Israel was a child, then
I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. Why did he appear in that bush
that burned but was not consumed unto Moses and said, I've heard
the cry of my people. I've come down here to save them.
Why did he do that? Because he loved them. He loved
them, that's why. That's why he did that. He loved,
I loved him. When Israel was a child, I loved
him then. And I called my son out of Egypt. Now, if you read that, If you
read the chapter, this clearly has reference now in Hosea 11,
to the nation of Israel and God delivering them from the bondage
of Egypt. That's what you, you know, when
you heard that, that's what you understood. And that's right,
it does have reference to that. But think about, do you remember
this, the way he describes it here is, I called them out of
Egypt. I called my son out of Egypt.
Do you remember what that looked like? It wasn't God standing
back somewhere in a corner saying, why don't you come out of there?
Come on out. Come on out. I want you out of Egypt. There's
nothing I want more than that. I want you to come out and come
on out. He reached down in there and he took hold of him, didn't
he? And he pulled him out. Listen to the way it's described,
the same thing. God calling his son out of Egypt. is described this way in Deuteronomy
26, eight. And the Lord brought us forth
out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm
and with great terribleness and with signs and with wonders.
In Deuteronomy there it says he reached in with his hand and
he reached his arm down and he took hold of us and pulled us
out of there with a mighty hand. That's what he did. But it's
described also as I called my son out of Egypt. That's how
he does it. And when he calls sinners, effectually
by his grace to come to him, this is the one that said, let
there be light. He's the one that when he said
to Thomas, be not faithless, but believing. He's the one that
said, let there be light. There was light. So what does
Thomas do? My Lord and my God. But listen to the spiritual fulfillment
of that verse in Hosea 11.1. And let me read it again, because
I didn't have you turn there, but I want you to get it in your
mind. When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and I called
my son out of Egypt. That whole story of the 400-year
bondage of Israel and Egypt and God redeeming them by the
blood of that Passover lamb. And every picture and all of
those plagues, you remember when he told Moses to throw down that
staff, and the staff, that was a symbol of God's power, right? Remember he raised that in the
Red Sea party, and every time he did a sign, I believe almost
every time, that staff was involved, it was a symbol of God's power.
And he said, throw that down, it's gonna become a serpent.
And it did, it hit the earth and it became a serpent. That's
the power of God, the Lord Jesus Christ coming down here to this
earth and becoming what we are in the sense that he was made
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. condemned sin in
the flesh. Moses raised up a serpent in
the wilderness. And when people looked at it,
they lived. Wow, it was the serpent that bit him. The serpent was
the problem. He's got to be raised up in the likeness of the problem.
So all through, what I'm saying is everything about that whole
bondage and God delivering his people, it was all Christ over
and over again. Every picture we saw. in that whole thing. And listen
to the spiritual fulfillment of that verse. When Israel was
a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. Listen
to Matthew 2.12. This is talking about Joseph
and Mary. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
born, it says, and being warned of God in a dream that they should
not return to Herod. Herod's trying to kill the Lord.
They departed into their own country another way. And when
they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to
Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and
his mother, and flee into Egypt. And be thou there until I bring
thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night
and departed into Egypt. They did what they were told
and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, out of
Egypt have I called my son. Wait a minute. Was he talking
about Israel there in Hosea or was he talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ? And of course the answer is yes. The picture there of God delivering
his people, how does he do that? The fulfillment of that is Christ.
It was by the Passover lamb that they were delivered. Christ himself,
Christ, the virgin born son of God is the fulfillment of that
verse. When Israel was a child, then
I loved him, loved him in Christ and called my son out of Egypt.
And when he did, we're saved, Israel's saved. All Israel, Paul
said in Romans 11, shall be saved. All Jews? No, all Israel, all
spiritual Israel. Our Lord exposes the kind of
fake love that religion attributes unto him In James chapter two,
turn over there with me if you would. And think about what I
just said, because if you're like me, it has to sink in for
a minute. Our Lord in James two here is
exposing the kind of fake love that religion attributes unto
him. They call this the love of God. And look what James says
about it in James 2.15. If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food.
And one of you saying to them, depart in peace, be ye warmed
and filled. Well, that's a nice thing to
say, isn't it? Boy, I sure hope everything works out for you.
Notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful
to the body, what good have you done them? What good have you
done them? What good has a God done who
says, boy, I hope everybody's, I want everybody to be saved,
but he don't really save anybody. You see, that's what religion,
God condemns that kind of fake love in word only. The context
there in James 2 exposes false faith. He's saying faith that's
like that, that doesn't work is dead faith. And so what he's
saying there is that those who say they love God, oh yeah, we
worship God, but you do a bunch of stuff that God said don't
do. What about that? And you don't do anything that
he said do. You don't preach the gospel. So it's saying, well, of course
I love God, seeing how I love Jesus. But he said, if you love
me, do what I say. There's no word, there's nothing
to back it up. You haven't done anything. And
that's the context in which James is saying this. He's saying,
if you say you love God, but you don't serve him, you don't
worship him, You don't even gather with the people of God. Maybe
you got a lawn to mow on Sunday morning. You know, I got to get
that done. But what about a God that says,
smile, I love you. And then he doesn't do anything
for you. There is salvation. There is such a thing as salvation.
He has a coat. He bought one, it's available. but he walks away after expressing
good wishes and leaves the sinner out in the cold. What good is
done? What good is that? Think about
that. What good is a chance to be saved? Another chance. We had a shot at it in the garden.
We could have lived in communion with God forever. We had a good
shot at it, didn't we, Bob? All we had to do was just not
eat that one tree. That's a pretty good chance. He came unto his own. He came
down from heaven. He fulfilled every prophecy concerning
him in the Old Testament. He came unto his own. And you'd
think they'd say, wow, this is the Christ. A few did, but his
own received him not. They had a pretty good shot at
doing the right thing, don't you imagine? He fulfilled down
to very specific details, everything that was prophesied concerning
the Christ. The Jews had a good shot, didn't they? They despised
him and rejected him. And he went around, you think
about that, you want another shot at salvation? You want a chance to be saved
tonight? He walked around on this earth making blind people
see. and raising up lame people and
raising up dead people and working, feeding people with just a couple
of loaves and some fish, feeding thousands of people with them.
He went about doing nothing but good. He never did anything or
said anything that wasn't perfect. That's a pretty good shot. Well,
surely now we'll bow. Surely now we'll look to him
for salvation. No. We mocked him, we hounded
him from birth. We spit on him. We despised and
rejected him. We abused him in every way we
could think of to do it. And murdered him in cold blood
and laughed at him while he bled. You want another chance to be
saved tonight? Come on. What is a chance to be saved?
What good is another chance to someone who by nature is incapable
of even knowing that he needs to be saved? You tell me what
good that is. What kind of love is that? That
stops there. What good is a promise that if
you'll take the first step, God will meet you to a lame man. It's a mockery to his soul is
what it is. What but a monster would ask
a dead man to choose life? You're talking to a dead man. By God's grace, what we do is
we prophesy to a bunch of dead, exceeding dry bones. And the question is, can they
live? Can these bones live? He said, preach to them. Let's
find out. You know what the answer to the
question is? Can these bones live? There ain't but one way
to answer that. Because there's only one who
can give them life. Only one. And he said, by the
foolishness of preaching the gospel of Christ and him crucified. It pleased him to give life to
dead sinners and all that the father has given him shall come
to him. When that happens, they're gonna come. Why would the father
give a sinner to his son? Because he loved him. He loved him. When Israel was
a child, Then I loved him. And there's only one way that
can end, freedom, freedom. Why would the son of God give
himself for that sinner? Love, love. And all whom he loved,
he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son and everybody
he predestinated, then he also called In whom he called, them he also
justified. In whom he justified them, he
also glorified. God's love always ends the same
way. Glory. He loved us, glory unto
him. Glory unto him. Unto him that loved us and. Unto him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. And let me just take one more
little step in this text. He loved us and washed us. This is the way salvation is
described here. We've seen it in so many other
freedom from bondage. Of course, it's that life from
the dead, the cleansing of a leper, the curing of the incurable,
giving sight to the blind. If you don't, if you're not born
again, you can't even see the kingdom of God. How are you going
to take a step toward it? And here, this way, he loved
us and he washed us. He washed us. All for whom that
precious blood is shed are washed. You remember what the Lord said
to his disciples. Turn to John 13 with me. I won't
be long, I don't think, tonight. John 13, four. This is such a
beautiful picture of that. There's a lot of places we could
turn to, but this is so beautiful. John 13, four. He, the Lord,
riseth from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel
and girded himself. After that, he poureth water
into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe
them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he
to Simon Peter, And Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash
my feet? And you can imagine that. He
knows who he is. He said, you're the son of the
living God. The son of the living God is
going to wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto
him, what I do, thou knowest not now. You don't understand
this, but you will. You will. When you see the picture
here, when you see what's being taught, When you see that sinners
have got to be washed, he's going to stoop way lower than physically
washing your feet, Simon. He's going to stoop way lower
than that. He's going to humble himself and become obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. You don't understand that
now, but you're going to. You're going to. Peter saith
unto him, no way, no way. Thou shalt never wash my feet. And Jesus answered him, if I
wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. And Simon Peter saith
unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
I think he started to get a glimpse of what he's talking about now.
He knows he needs to be washed, but not just my feet, I need
to be washed all over. And the Lord said, you already
are. Isn't that beautiful? If I wash, do not wash everything. I see, I understand now what
you're saying, but did he? Because it wasn't just that water
in that basin. It wasn't the towel that he was
dirty with. That's not the cleansing that's being taught about here
now. My hands and my head, and Jesus
saith unto him, the Lord just keeps teaching, but aren't you
glad that he's long suffering? Now I see no you don't now I
do though. No not yet, but he's gonna still
teach you he's gonna keep teaching us He's gonna keep showing us
who he is And what he did for us Jesus saith to him he that is
washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every
wit That means completely all over,
complete, all over clean. And you are clean. Now he said that to him before
he ever washed his feet. You understand the washing of
the feet is a separate thing. That's a picture of what he did
on Calvary now. And he said, you know, your feet
need to be washed. In other words, think about this
now. And then he finished by saying,
but not all, because he knew who should betray him. Therefore,
he said, you're not all clean. Those for whom he died are clean. But Judas wasn't one of those.
He was a devil from the beginning. He's the son of perdition. And
so he wasn't washed in the precious blood of Christ. But you, he
said, you are clean every whit, all whole, completely clean. Just washing feet. It's another
thing. It's a whole other thing. I took
a shower this morning. I plan to take one tomorrow morning,
too Lord willing I'm gonna do that
and that's necessary. Why? Because I still live in
this body. I live in the body of this death
Paul called it in first Corinthians 15 this corruptible and This
is corruptible. You could say, I'm gonna live
in a sealed, sanitized room, because I'm tired of getting
dirty. I'm gonna find a sanitized room, sealed completely off from
the outside world, and I'm gonna live there. I'm not gonna ever
get dirty. You're still gonna start stinking before long, aren't
you? You're gonna get nasty anyway, because it ain't an outside problem. The problem of our physical nastiness
is not an outside problem, and our spiritual corruption is not
either. So it is with sin, we're the
problem. Jack used to always say I'd go
live on a deserted island if I could, but the problem is I'd
have to take me with me. I'd try to get away from sinners,
but I'd have to take me with me, so it wouldn't do any good.
Isn't that the truth? We are the problem. The problem
is not the wrong crowd. There is spiritual application
here to what our Lord said about our feet. Now we walk in this
world and we're told, listen to James 1.27 about that, pure
religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep
himself unspotted from the world. There is a desire here to keep
ourselves clean from the world, clean from ourselves. Again,
it's an internal problem, isn't it? But the Lord didn't say there
in John 13, you're clean if you wash your feet. He told Simon
before he ever washed his feet, you're clean all over, all over,
all over. It's a separate issue. You are
clean every whit. Why? You've been washed. Isn't
that what he said? He that is washed is clean every
whit. And you're one of them, Simon. Well, that leper, is there anything
nastier than a leper? You remember what he said? Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. You can wash me clean. And he said, I will. And sinners
are just made clean one way, just one way. He said, come now, let us reason
together, though your sins be as scarlet. They should be as
wool though. They'd be red like crimson. They
should be made as white as snow. How does that happen? One way
without the shedding of blood There's no remission of sins
Without the shedding of blood. There's no remission and it can't
just be any blood and That's our text unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sin in his own blood. That's the
only way to be washed from sins, the precious blood of God, the
son. And he took Matthew 26, 27, the
cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all
of it. For this is my blood of the new
covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins and it can't just be any blood.
The blood of bulls and goats, Paul said it could never take
away sin, it was a shadow of him who was to come, who entered
in once into the holy place, not made with hands, not with
the blood, Bulls and goats, but with his own precious blood and
obtained eternal redemption for us You see our text speaks of washing
which signifies we understand what washing is we do it every
day It's the purging way of filth But we're not dirty with dirt
We're filthy with sins He washed us from our sins And that's why
we have that word remission there in Matthew 26, the remission
of sins. The only way that the filth of
sins can be washed away, it doesn't happen by water. It doesn't happen
in the Baptist dream. That word remission is redemption,
putting away of sin, payment of the penalty, forgiveness,
pardon. What can wash away my sin? Nothing. But we don't, bless God, there's
more to that song, isn't there? On the authority of this, of
God's book, there's more to that song. Nothing but the precious
blood of Jesus Christ. God's love for sinners is not
him hoping the best for them. It's not him waiting for a dead
sinner to meet some requirement. It's not God waiting for a sinner
to exercise some ability. He loved us and he brought us
out of bondage and death with a mighty arm by the precious blood of Christ,
our Passover lamb. He brought us out with a mighty
arm. He laid help upon one who was
mighty to save. And by His grace and power, He has saved us. And He will
reveal to everyone He redeemed with that precious blood. He's
already saved them. Some of them just don't know
it yet. I'm pretty sure they don't, because I'm pretty sure
when they do, when the last one knows about it, Think the Lord's
gonna wrap this thing up. What do you think read 1st Peter
chapter 2 1st or 2nd Peter chapter 2 This world stands now the Sun
will come up in the morning if it does because God Almighty
is not willing that one Of those that he gave his son should perish Not one amen, let's pray