I ask that you always be in prayer
for me and thankful that you do pray for me, these men pray
for me. And I appreciate all of your
prayers. And so when I ask you to pray
for me regarding this study, I mean, especially for that,
but not just for that, of course, I need your prayer all the time. But this is a study that I've
hesitated for years enter into, and with all of the Word of God,
we need His wisdom, we need His Spirit to reveal it to us and
to give us a message from His Word for His people. So pray
with me to that end. This will be our first study
in the book of Revelation, and I suspect it will be in this
book for some years, if the Lord is willing. So Revelation 1.1,
the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show
unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it
by his angel unto his servant, John. Now in your Bible, it probably
entitles this book, The Revelation of St. John. But why would you title it that
when God already titles it The Revelation of Jesus Christ? That's
the title of the book. Let me say this, there's not
a lot wrong with that because the book of Isaiah begins this
way, Division of Isaiah. Okay, that's fine. the son of
Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And the
book of Revelation is full of visions given to John. And so
I understand what they did there. But when the Lord has said, this
is the revelation of Jesus Christ, I think that's worth talking
about. The book of Revelation is not
called the vision of John or the revelation of John. Now this
is written by John the Apostle, not John the Baptist, but John
the Apostle, who also wrote the Gospel of John, the disciple
whom Jesus loved, what John called himself. And as I said, this
is things revealed to John, but it's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. And in the same way, the reason
that's important, I believe, is because it says the vision
of Isaiah in the book of Isaiah. We understand that. But here
it says the revelation of Jesus Christ, because in a sense, every
book is that. It's a revelation of God's son. Didn't he say this book concerns
me? He taught him the things in the
scriptures concerning himself. The visions, the revelations
are given to Isaiah and John and others who wrote the scriptures
were eyewitnesses of things that they wrote. but everything that
they wrote concerns and reveals and exalts Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. Listen to Romans chapter one,
verse one. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,
concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made of the
seed of David, According to the flesh and declared to be the
Son of God With power according to the Spirit of holiness by
the resurrection from the dead so the gospel concerns God's
Son Jesus Christ is the gospel of God And it concerns his son
Old Testament. He knew it was promised by the
prophets but also It was delivered unto Paul as he said there He
was separated under that same gospel. Luke 24, 27, beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, he, Christ, expounded unto them
in all the scriptures the things concerning, that's the same word
that was in Romans 1, 2 there, or 1, 3, concerning himself. It's concerning Christ. So this
is the, you see why it says the revelation of Jesus Christ. These things were given to Christ
by the Father, and he revealed them to us, to his servant, and
then to us through his servant. But it's also a revelation of
him in the sense that he's the subject of it, it concerns him.
So think of this now, think with me. Sometimes you have to step
back and look at the whole Bible, of perspective on the whole book. Think about this book that we
have in front of us. With this in mind, this book
of Revelation begins this way, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And we just read how the whole book is concerning Christ. It
reveals Christ. He reveals his son in all of
it. But think about this. God has written a book to sinners. His word. It's called his law
in some places, the whole word of God. And Old Testament and
New, as we've seen, and I could read you hundreds of scriptures
to that effect. Old Testament and New, it concerns
the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a revelation of
God in his Son, through his Son. And in this book, Christ is said
to be all in all." That's what it says in this book. Christ
is all and in all. He is said to have all power
in heaven and earth, all authority and all ability in heaven and
earth. He is said to be the one object
of saving faith. Paul said, we preach Christ crucified. And he said this, Christ crucified
preached is the power of God and the salvation. To everyone
that believes on it. He's described as all of the
fullness of the Godhead in a body. And he is called that good part
or concerning the word of God concerning him is called that
good part in all of life. Martha was doing some good, important
things. Not every day the Lord of Glory
comes to your house and you get a chance to cook for him. But
more important than all of that, that good part in comparison
to everything, that good part in all of life was to sit at
his feet and hear his word because he is the one thing needful. He that believeth on him shall
not perish but have everlasting life. But he that believeth not
shall not see life. That's who we're talking about.
This is the revelation of Him who is everything and in everything. Of Him and through Him and to
Him are all things. That's who we're talking about.
And sometimes you've gotta step back. Yes, we preach Christ. What else are we gonna say when
we open the Bible? But think about it, this whole
book concerns God's Son. This book that we're looking
at begins the revelation of Jesus Christ, the person I just described
in the words of scripture. By God's grace, I'm interested,
are you? The revelation of him, of that one. It's not a history, it's life
and death right now. For you, right now, tonight,
it's life and death. To know him is life eternal.
And if you don't, you'll perish in your sins. If you believe
not, he said that I am, you'll die in your sins. So that's who
we're talking about. So, and listen to me carefully
now, I want you to turn to a scripture. But when I simply quote this
passage of scripture to you, you're gonna look at it and see
that I'm quoting it right. And you're familiar with it,
you'll recognize it. But in just quoting this scripture,
what you're gonna hear, and I pray that God will reveal this to
us, and that we won't just agree with it up here, that we'll understand
this. And it's something that very
few people know. Everybody dandies about the word
of God, the Bible. Even politicians, you know, they'll
use it, try to use, quote, scripture. If it's to their advantage in
any way to do that, they'll use it. You know, they would. Everybody
talking about the Bible. Well, if I know my Bible and
this and that about the Bible, let's swear on the Bible. Let's
do this. Listen. What we're fixing to read, this
is the key to the whole word of God. And very few people have
any idea that it is. And it's vital. It's vital to
know this. John 20 verse 30, turn there
with me please. It's the key to the whole word
of God handed, very simply handed to us by God himself in the word. And keep in mind everything we've
said already about him, all in all, the fullness of the whole
Godhead in a body. Believing on him is life, not
believing on him is eternal spiritual death. He's all and in all. He created all things and for
his glory they are and were created. Of him and through him and to
him is everything. All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth, he said. All power is his. And every one
of us is in his hand tonight. to do with as he pleases. And
I'll tell you this, if he puts you in hell, he'll be doing the
right thing. And if he takes you to glory to be with him forever,
he'll be doing the right thing. By his blood, by his, he makes
it the right thing because of him and what he did. But either
way now, whatever he does is gonna be right. And it may be
hell and it may not be. And it's up to him, not you.
That's who we're talking about. All right, listen, John 20, 30,
and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his
disciples. In other words, he did miracles
and wonders, and he spoke, and they said nobody ever spoke like
this man. There was a lot of things that could have been recorded,
but they are not written in this book. A lot of them are not written,
but these are. The Holy Spirit of God inspired
this book, every word of it. And these are written for this
reason, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his
name. That's why this book, that's
the key to everything. We're gonna be in the Revelation,
and there's gonna be some strange language, and you're gonna look
at it, and I'm gonna look at it, and may the Lord bless me
now. I don't know what some of this stuff says yet. I haven't
studied the whole book of Revelation yet, I don't know what it is
yet. And we're gonna read it and we're
gonna say, what in the world does that mean? I'll tell you what, without Christ,
it doesn't mean anything. Without him, it would not mean
a thing. These are not written that you
might have an example to follow. So you can go about to establish
your own righteousness. They're not written for that
reason. Do you see that word life in
verse 31 there? Life that you might have life. This is how
you have life, by believing on him, not by doing the right thing. Everything else is death. Finding
in Christ an example or a chance to be saved if you'll only do
something is death. Life is believing on him, trusting
him, bowing to him, falling in love with him. and knowing him
by the grace and power of God. It is that you might believe
on him, and faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
That's why the Lord called it that good part. And that faith is not of yourself,
it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man shall
boast. And how shall they believe on him of whom they've not heard?
If this whole book is written that you might believe, but how
are you gonna believe on him unless you hear? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how is anybody gonna preach this unless God
says it? There's a whole bunch of people trying that God didn't
say it. And it won't take you long to
figure out that what they're saying is not what God said. So the book of Revelation in
a sense is no different than any other book of the Bible in
this most important regard. We must see Christ and believe
on him. That's why it's written. That's
what it's there to do is to reveal. It is a revelation of Jesus Christ. And the reason God reveals his
son to sinners is that they might believe on him and that they
might have a life through his name. That's what I'm here for. That's what I'm here for. And
we know that this salvation in Christ is of the Lord, and so
we ask in Christ's name that God would reveal. Just because
this is a revelation of his son doesn't mean he's gonna reveal
him in you. You may see it clearly up here and understand the doctrine,
but God's gonna have to do a work in your heart, or you're not
gonna see the kingdom of God. So may he reveal his son in us.
That's what Paul said. When it pleased God, he revealed
his son in me. That's how it happens. Not when
it pleases you, when it pleases God. He'll reveal his son in
you. And then it's all over. Everything
changes then. And so we ask for that. Reveal your son in us, Lord.
Make this a revelation, not only in word, but in the heart, that
we might have life through his name, that we might have life
more abundantly. The revelation of Jesus Christ. Think of it in this sense. What
are those scorpions, though, Chris? What are those? What are
those seven vials and the horsemen called the horsemen of the apocalypse?
What is God saying in all of that? What does that mean? The
revelation of Jesus Christ. Don't ever forget that first
sentence as we go through this book. Now, the book of Revelation is
mysterious in the same sense that the Old Testament scripture
was mysterious to the Old Testament believers. Think about this. There were many things that had
not been revealed yet that the Lord was teaching those Old Testament
believers. It was prophecy concerning things
to come, wasn't it? That's what Revelation is for
us. And they didn't see things as clearly as we do now, it was
the same message, it was the same gospel. That's clear from
the scripture. But that's what revelation now,
see the next phrase in verse one? Things to show unto his
servants, things which must shortly come to pass. These are things
that are gonna come to pass. That's how it was in the Old
Testament for Moses and Elijah and Noah and all of them. It
was things that were good. It was talking about Christ that
would come and what would happen when he did come. Well, that's
how Revelation, that's our view of the book of Revelation. But
we know that though the Old Testament spoke of things that hadn't happened
yet in the experience of those believers, yet their faith was
not in events or in things that were to come to pass. but in
a person. It's the same with us now. Yes,
we wanna understand these things that are gonna come to pass,
but for one reason, that we might know him, that Christ might be
revealed to us. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ. It talks about all those things
as they relate to him, as they set forth him, as they exalt
him, as they reveal Him. That's how it is with us now.
Remember in Luke chapter 21, when the disciples, and if you
want to read Luke 21 later, it may refresh your memory, but
we were in it not long ago. We're in chapter 22 now. And
when the disciples, they were impressed by the temple, they
said, Lord, look at all these buildings and all this beautiful,
this beautiful temple and all of the things about it. and the
grandeur of outward religion, and you know how beautiful and
impressive it must have been for them to say that. And you
remember what he said to them? I'm going to tear it all down.
And what did he do? He talked about himself. Don't
look at the building. Don't look at outward religion.
All of the point of all of that is a person. It's a person. And then when he said he's going
to tear it down, you remember what they did? They said, when,
Lord, when? When's that going to happen? We're curious about things and
events and things like that. It's our nature now. And people
who I've seen the charts, have you ever seen them put the chronological
charts on the wall and stuff? And then they'll sit there and
talk about that for two hours and you still don't know what
in the world they were talking about. They didn't say anything. Got dragons on it and horses
and a bunch of speculation. Mostly
nonsense. And if it wasn't nonsense, it
would be missing the point. If every bit of it was true,
it would be missing the point. It's not a revelation of Jesus
Christ. It's getting down in the weeds
and missing the point is what it is. And may God help us not
to do that. He said it's going to be torn
down. And they said, when's it going to be torn down? And he
told them about many things that were going to happen. that were
troubling to them. He said it's going to be bad.
This temple, the whole city was going to be destroyed. God was
going to use a heathen king to do it, but it was the Lord that
was going to do it. But in the book of Revelation, we're going
to read about some things that might be troubling. You know, religion
tries to scare people with it. Is that you think that's the
point? You think when God said comfort my people that that's
well, that's until you get to the book of Revelation and it's
time to scare people. You don't wanna be left behind.
They made a movie called Left Behind, just to scare people
into making a decision for Jesus. That's not salvation, and that's
not the gospel. But he told them there in Luke
21, some things that were gonna be troubling and distracting,
but he said, remember his exhortations to them and all of that? He said,
here's what's important. There's gonna be a lot of false
Christ. Don't listen to them. Don't follow them. Keep your
eyes fixed on me. Keep your heart fixed on me,
the one true Christ. Don't be deceived. Look to me
alone. And instead of looking at all the terrible events and
worrying about, you know, when and what and all that, he said
this, look up. That's where you need to look
is up. because your redemption's drawing that. That's what you
need to know about all this. This is me saving you. It looks
scary and horrible. This is me saving you. I'm gonna
tell you right now. I don't know yet what all I'm
gonna say about the scorpions and the dragons and all that,
but I know this. This is God saving his people.
That's what this is. That's what the book of Revelation
is. He said, you look up when you
hear of wars and rumors of wars and you see the destruction that's
going on. And it's going to be horrible.
It was horrible. He said, look up. Your redemption draweth nigh. And you know what else he said? This all looks like death and
destruction, but not for you. It's redemption for you. Don't
look at things and events. Look on things above. where Christ
is seated at the right hand of God. Many take the things that
he said about events that would take place and they still get
bogged down in them. They still speculate about Luke
21 and what's gonna happen in the chronology of it and all
that. They're more concerned with the events than the one
that all of it points to. They're looking at the temple,
the physical temple, and being impressed by that. You know why
that's called the temple? Because it says that Christ came
down here and dwelt among, you know what that word dwelt, when
it talks about the Son of God dwelling among, it means tabernacled.
He tabernacled among us. He is the temple, He is the tabernacle. It all, the point of it all was
Him. And yet they were impressed by
the outward, the physical, the buildings, the trappings of religion,
and they missed the point. Christ being the point. And so
it goes, it went on and Again, I pray in this study that we
won't get bogged down in the types and the shadows in the
book of his revelation, and see it as his revelation, or revelation
of him, and that it'll be clear to us. And I'll tell you this,
just like in the Old Testament, we see the things that were prophesied
in the Old Testament. Now we go, okay, I see, that
makes, I see, I see that. They didn't see it as clearly
then, because it was future. But we look back on it and we
go, Yeah, that's clear as a bell all the types in the pictures
In the Old Testament one day. We'll say that about everything
that's in Revelation And I suspect if the Lord is gracious, we'll
say that now what light he gives us As we go through this book
But the point of all of it is Christ and faith and life in
him that you might believe on him and have life. Religion has used, as I said,
this book to scare people, make scary movies about it. The Lord's
command has never changed. Comfort you, my people. The book
of Revelation will be a comfort to those who are in Christ Jesus.
You're seeing him on the throne? High and lifted, does that comfort
you? To know that he's running everything and not a man? Not
any man anywhere, Christ is on the throne. The lamb as it had
been slain, the one who shed his precious blood for you is
running everything and everybody. That helps me. There's nothing
scary about that. Christ is always a comfort to
his people. Just as he told his disciples in Luke 21, horrible
things are gonna happen. Remember, he said, when you shall
hear of wars and commotion, don't be terrified. That's word for
word. When you hear about all that,
be not terrified, for these things must first come to pass, but
the end is not by and by. And listen, verse 17, that was
verse nine. In verse 17, he said, you'll
be hated of all men for my name's sake. It's not gonna be a good
time for believers. But there shall not a hair of
your head perish. Not a hair. So he comforted them
in it. Don't be afraid of the terrible
things happening in our day. Don't be afraid of that or of
the prophecies of this book. But remember his words of comfort
in this book. What does he say to his people?
Listen to what John said. John said, I heard a great voice
out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men. That's not the temple or the
tabernacle made with hands. That's the one who was pictured
by that tabernacle. And he He, this tabernacle is
a he and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people
and God himself shall be with them and be their God and God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. I love the language
of that. He's not gonna send an angel,
God's gonna do it. God's gonna wipe away my tears,
all of them. And there shall be no more death.
Neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away." And so I believe this book, as
all of scripture, will be a comfort to the people of God. If he's
pleased to speak to us, we know how it all ends, don't we? We
know how everything ends. And he said, it shall be well
with you, those who are in Christ. Notice again, the wording of
verse one, we will be shown things which must shortly come to pass,
but it's not a revelation of those things. I'm gonna keep
stressing this now. We're gonna be shown some things,
but those things are shown to reveal Him. It's a revelation
of our Lord. These things must come to pass.
For the same reason, everything, all things that have come to
pass and shall come to pass must come to pass in God's divine
providence to glorify and exalt and set forth the Lord Jesus
Christ. God has a universe because he
has a people and he has a people because his business is glorifying
his son. The kingdom of heaven is like
a king that made a marriage for his son. For his son. Let me read you something from
Revelation 9-7. This is what I referred to a
while ago. And I want to talk about it a little bit more. Listen
to Revelation 9-7. And the shapes of the locusts
were like unto horses prepared unto battle. And on their heads
were, as it were, crowns like gold, and their faces were as
the faces of men, and they had hair as the hair of women, and
their teeth were as the teeth of lions, and they had breastplates,
and as it were breastplates of iron, and the sound of their
wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle,
and they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings
in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months.
And there, you might look at that, and I might at this point
and say, what in the world does that mean? What is that talking?
but we know up front, don't we? I know before I look into it.
Apart from Christ, it wouldn't mean anything. But whatever it
means, Christ is the reason for it. He is exalted in it, and
it's written for our learning of him that we might believe
on him. I know that from the start because
Christ told us that. If Christ is all in all, then
what does all that I just read have to do with it? Everything. If of Him and through Him and
to Him are all things, then what does that have to do with Him?
And we know that before we look into it. These things must shortly come
to pass. But think about what already
has come to pass. And I wanted to point this out
because These revelations to John are a revelation of a person,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and they concern things that must come
to pass, but they must come to pass because of what already
has come to pass. Let me show you that. Listen
to Revelation 5 now. And here's something that's gonna
happen. They sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take
the book and to open the seals thereof. They're gonna do that. They're gonna sing a song. That's
gonna happen. It's gonna happen shortly. John got a glimpse of
it into the future. He saw into eternity and he said,
they're gonna sing a song and there's gonna be a book open.
There's gonna be the seals open. Why is that gonna happen? For
thou wast slain because of what's already happened. Keep that in
mind now. This is a revelation of things
that must come to pass because of what has come to pass. It's
Christ in him crucified. Because he was slain and has
redeemed us to God. That's why they're going to sing.
That's why they're gathered around the throne. That's what the book
is about. And that's why it's going to
be open. Because of Christ and what he did for sinners on Calvary. That's why. And if your revelation of the
future doesn't have to do with that. Then I don't want to hear
about it. God, oh, God, you know, as a
prophet, he gave him some glimpse of the future. I tell you what, you better have
something to do with the past. The past, not just any past. They sang worthy, worthy because
he was slain and has redeemed us to God by that blood out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation. That's why
all of it's going to happen because of him. and what he accomplished. You remember that part where
the angel said, or John, I believe it was John that said, who are
these that are arrayed in white? Or maybe the angel asked John,
I can't remember, he said, thou knowest. And he said, these are
they which have washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the lamb. That's what's gonna happen shortly,
but how are you gonna wash your robe in the blood of the lamb
unless the lamb was slain on Calvary? thousands of years before. So keep in mind the future now, it's not anything new. Except in this sense, Christ
and his gospel is always new. It's always new to his people.
It's always new. He's always new. The dew of youth
is still on his brow. And I don't know who this messenger
is at the end of verse one, signified by his angel. That word angel
means messenger. It doesn't always mean a heavenly
being like in Isaiah six, I believe it is, where they had six wings
and with two they flew, and with two they covered their eyes,
and with two they covered their feet. No, it doesn't always mean,
it just means messenger. And sometimes it does mean angelic
beings like that, creatures that attend God's throne and do his
bidding. And some of them are named in
scripture. Those angels have names, they're
individuals like we are. But not here, they're not named
here, and so we don't know for sure, but whoever this is, it's
a messenger, could be Christ himself. He's called the messenger
of the covenant. He's a messenger, is he not?
He said that this is a revelation that was revealed to him by his
father and given to his servant, signified by John. So I don't know who it is, but
I know this. He does what every messenger of God does. Look at
verse two. This is what every messenger
of God who bear record of the word of God. And of the testimony of Jesus
Christ and all things that he saw, whatever God reveals to
us. That's what we're going to say. And nothing else, nothing
more, nothing less. In a sense, in a sense, now I
don't have anything to say to you. That's just the truth, I
don't have anything to say to you, but God does, and so I speak. Now think with me about that. An ambassador of a king, he doesn't
come to another king because he has something to say. He comes
because the king had something to say. Isn't that right? That's
how it is with the ambassadors of Jesus Christ. His word is
be ye reconciled to God. The ambassador comes and speaks
because the king has a message. The king has a word for somebody. It's for somebody. It's not a
general proclamation. It's for somebody. It is generally
proclaimed in a sense that you hear the call in this book of
Revelation, all that's thirsty, come and drink, take in the water
of life freely. And you say, well, that's a general
proclamation to everybody. No, it's a call to thirsty people.
Are you thirsty? It's not to everybody. If you're
not thirsty, he's not talking to you. So that message is from somebody
to somebody. And I speak because the king
has something to say. We're witnesses that bear record.
That's what it said there. That's why I'm saying that. Who
bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus
Christ. We don't tell you what we think about what God said.
I've heard people do that all the time. They'll quote a scripture
and they'll start telling you what they think about it. I don't
care what you think about it. And you shouldn't care what
I think about it. I don't tell you what I think about what God
said. I just tell you what God said. You look at it and see
if that's not so. We don't tell you what God meant
by what he said. The scriptures, the word of God
is not of any private interpretation. And I've heard people take that
and emphasize the word private. It's not of any private interpretation.
It's okay if an organization interprets the word. No, the
emphasis is on the word interpretation. It's not subject to interpretation
by anybody. Nobody. I heard somebody on the
news today talking about we want to appoint judges to the Supreme
Court that administer and enforce the Constitution as it's written
without interpreting the Constitution. I'd say that's important too.
But what's more important than that is don't you dare interpret
the word of God. It's not written in a foreign
language. God has seen to it, it's written in a language I
can understand. I don't need anybody to tell me what God meant
by what he said. Just tell me what God said. He's
able to say what he means. And it's the testimony of Jesus
Christ. Look with me, and I know I'm
probably gonna go long. This is the first lesson in Revelation. We'll have to do, it may not
be. We still got 15 minutes. Look at 1 Corinthians 2.1. 1
Corinthians 2.1. It won't be, it won't be long.
1 Corinthians 2.1. And I, brethren, this is the
Apostle Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, who were very
gifted, very gifted church, but they were very worldly too, there
were some problems. But listen, he said, when I came
to you, I brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God,
for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. the person of Christ and the
work of Christ. That's what the ordinances are
about. The person of Christ, his death, his burial, his resurrection. We're dead to sin in him and
alive under God, and we're raised in newness of life to walk after
him. The body and the blood of Christ
and the bread and the wine, his person, his work, Christ and
him crucified. That's what the God and he said,
I made up my mind. I'm not going to say anything
else. Why? Because the king sent me to say that. And that's it. Now the last words of verse two
there, think of those as we read together in John 3. Turn with
me to John 3, 31. I wanna show you this. I'm talking
about verse two back in our text now. It's the testimony of Jesus
Christ and of all things that he saw. All right, what is that
referring to? Listen to John 3, 31. John 3.31, he that cometh from
above is above all. He's talking about himself. He
that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth. He
that cometh from heaven is above all. That's himself. And what
he hath seen and heard, that he testified. He was in the very
bosom of the father. He said, I know my father, my
father knows me. I testify of him. and what he
gave him, what he revealed to him. And no man receiveth his
testimony. Nobody does. Nobody's going to
receive it. No man can come unto me except
the Father drawing. No man receiveth his testimony.
He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God
is true. You may just receive it, even
though nobody receives it. By God's power and grace. And
if you do, you know what you're going to say? Let God be true
and everybody else a liar. He said to his seal that God
is true. That's what it means by he confirmed
it. He confirmed it by his servant. And listen, for whom, verse 34,
for he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God. For God giveth
not the spirit by measure unto him, by whatever measure God
gives me his Holy Spirit. And I'm gonna say what's true,
there's no doubt about that. You can verify, you can look
and see yourself, this is what God said. I don't, there's no
compromise, there's no bones about that. But to whatever extent
he gives us the spirit tonight, gives me the spirit of God to
speak it, it'll be clear, it'll be blessed. If you're blessed
by the gospel, it's not because I'm a good speaker. It's a good
thing it doesn't depend on that. But to the Lord Jesus Christ,
the spirit is not given by measure. The spirit of God is called the
spirit of Christ. He's the same God, just another
person, different person of the God here. And listen, the father
loveth the son, verse 35, and hath given all things into his
hand. Everything that's gonna happen
is up to him. And everybody, your eternal destiny
is in his hand. He gives life to whomsoever he
will. He that believeth on the son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
son shall not see life, but the wrath of God. You see why we
need a revelation of him? Because he's all that matters.
All the petty junk that you came in here worrying about, none
of it matters. The stuff that's so important
to me and I get all bowed up about, it don't matter. None
of it matters. It really don't. I know we think
it does, and you may go out of here and think it does again.
It still isn't going to matter. We can solve every problem we
have tonight and be done with it. And still, the only thing
that matters is do you believe on the Son of God? That's it. You'll go to hell without any
problems if you don't, even if you solved every one. You'll go to hell without a worry
in your head. You're still going to hell. It's
Christ. As old Jack Shanks used to say,
there is nothing else. There's nothing else. And as
Christ is the messenger of the covenant, so he has sent us with
his message. As the father sends me, so send
I you. And he said, the things that
I have given you, that's what you tell him. You preach the
things that I've commanded. And by his grace, we're careful
to, with great plainness of speech, as Paul said, preach his word
because, verse three, here's why we're so careful about it
and so adamant that we're not gonna know anything else. I don't
wanna know. Look, we can talk about whatever we wanna talk
about later, but right now, there is nothing else. Blessed is he,
blessed is he that readeth. And they that hear the words
of this prophecy, Not man's opinion, not beautiful singing, although
I love beautiful singing. Not here to put on a show. Not
going to have a Christmas cantata this year. Didn't have one last
year, not going to have one next year either. We're going to keep
preaching Christ because blessed is he that readeth and heareth
the words of this prophecy. And this is a revelation of a
person. And he's all that matters. and keep those things which are
written therein. Be doers of the word and not
hearers only. For the time is at hand, but
there's a little bit more to that than that, and I've got a few
more minutes. Since Christ is revealed in this book and to
know him is life, then blessed are they that read and hear.
That just makes good sense, doesn't it? It is that good part that
Mary chose by God's grace that Christ said can never be taken
away from her. It couldn't be taken away from
Job though, everything else was. God gave Satan free reign, but
just don't take his life. Take everything you want, but
don't take his life. And this good part couldn't be,
he's still blessed in the name of God. It's the reason that Simon and
the other apostles and all who hear with God-given ears of faith
cannot go anywhere else. Why? Because thou hast the words.
Thou hast the words of eternal life. But just hearing with the
natural ear is not enough. Blessed are they that read and
hear. And let me just throw this in
there. This is not in my notes. Half of what I've said tonight
is not in my notes, but listen. Don't just hear it, read it too.
The Bereans looked and made sure that what they were hearing was
what God said. I recommend that. I recommend
that. And listen, also keep. It means to attend unto carefully. Solomon said, my son, my son,
Endeavor, strive, listen carefully to the words that I'm saying
to you. Isn't that what he said? Apply your heart, apply your
heart to the wisdom of God. To attend unto carefully, to
take care of, to guard, to treasure it, and listen, to reserve it
as a treasure, but also, very interesting here, It means to
undergo something. Think about this for a second.
This Greek word, it means to attend them too carefully, to
treasure it, to hold it close and treasure it. Job said, your
word is more than my necessary food. But also it means to undergo
something. And what that means is when you
hear the Bible, it's not so much you doing something, but something
being done to you. Don't miss that. To undergo something,
you undergo a surgery or some kind of therapy, something that
is acted upon you, you do something when you hear, you keep, you
do treasure it, but it has something also to do with being acted upon. So undergo. May we undergo. the book of the revelation of
Jesus Christ by his grace. It's him doing something for
us. May he do so. And finally, it's always urgent. The time is at hand. That's the
end of verse three. The time is at hand. It was then when John wrote this
and it is now. There literally is no tomorrow. There is no tomorrow. You say, well, there might be
a tomorrow, but there isn't one. There is not right now, there
is no tomorrow. And the past also. I'm pressing today, right now,
toward the mark, to the prize of the high calling of God. Boy,
that sounds like a good prize. Boy, where is it? It's in Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the high calling of God, which is in Christ
Jesus. It's always urgent. Now is the
accepted time. Not today, even. It says, Blank
is the day of salvation. You might think it would say
today is the day of salvation. Nope, now is the day of salvation. Isaiah 55, six. Seek ye the Lord
while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near. I thought about old blind Bartimaeus.
He wasn't about to let him get away, was he? He cried with all
of his heart. He cried like everything depended
on him. When they told him to shut up,
it says he cried the more a great deal. You know why he did that? Because everything depends on
him. Everything. Call upon him. While he is near, whosoever shall
call of whom the name of the Lord be saved. Let's pray.