Thank you for that, John. Let the Amen sound from His people
again. Revelation 1. Revelation, the
first chapter. I'm not preaching for amens or applause or however. I do preach. I do want a response. I do hope. and pray the Spirit
of God. Paul, when he talked about preaching,
he said, we didn't preach with persuasible words of man's wisdom,
not trying to reason you or educate you into the Kingdom of God.
That's not how it's done. Not with the head. But he said, we preached in demonstration
of the Spirit and power. The power of his word, the Holy
Spirit taking the word of God and piercing the heart, speaking
to the heart, not the head, but the heart. I do hope and pray
that there will be a response. It was Barnard, an evangelist
who told, who preached everywhere, who told a young preacher named
Henry Mahan some 70 years ago, he said, preach for a verdict.
young man, preach for a verdict, preach so clearly, so pointedly,
so plainly, that people will hear what you're saying, they'll
understand what you're saying, at least with their head, and
they'll either get mad, sad, or glad. But you're not just
preaching there, not just trying to hear my voice, I don't want
to hear my voice. The gospel is called a saver
of life to life. Life responds to life. That's death to death. Death,
there's no response from death. There's no laughter, there's
no crying, there's no joy, there's no rejoicing, there's no mourning. Life responds to life and that's
what I'm looking for. That's what I'm hoping for. I'm
hoping the Lord will create life where there is none and the Lord
will to strengthen that life He's
given. Life to life. If something's good, if something's
really good to you, you'll show it, won't you? There are nine
amens in this book of Revelation alone. Amen everywhere throughout
Scripture. We read one in Nehemiah 8 twice. Amen and amen. Psalm 106. That's
all. The very end says, let all the
people say, Amen. All the people, male and female.
Amen means truth. That's when you hear Him say
it. Truth. Verily. You remember anybody
saying that? Our Lord said it often, didn't
He? In John's Gospel, we'd say it twice. Verily. Verily. We hear it, we say, Amen. I believe
it. Truth means that's the way it
is. It means so be it. I love the Word. I love to hear
it. I love to say it. I love the Gospel. If you love someone
or something, you'll say so, won't you? You have to. Out of
the abundance of the heart, if you receive the love of the truth,
you're going to say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Let such as love thy salvation
say, the Lord be magnified. Amen. That's one word, just one
word that includes all of that. It's one word that where all
of God's people say, God is true and every man's a liar. That's
the way. So be it. So be it. Because that's the way it is.
They don't say, and God said it, and I believe it, and that
settles it. No. Hold on now. It was settled before you ever
believed it. God said it, and that settles
it. We don't make it true. He lets
us know it is. Amen. Amen. Many say that. I hear it. In my heart, my hearing
is hard. But some say it, and I love to
hear it. We should say it. It's a commandment. We're going
to see that. It's a commandment. And the word
means truth. You remember the Canaanite woman,
the woman, Canaanite, Syro-Phoenician? After everything the Lord said,
she just had one thing to say. Truth, Lord. Truth. The Lord said it. He ignored
her. I don't have to speak to you. And he spoke through another
man. That's how he speaks. He's going
to speak to you. He's going to speak through a man, a preacher.
That's the way it is. All right? And then they told
her, he said he's only sent for his elect. And none of that deterred her.
And then she came to our Lord, and he said, it's not fit to
give bread to dogs. What'd she say all that? Amen. You know, the word truth in Isaiah
65, he that blesses himself in the God of truth, he that blesses
himself in the earth will bless himself in the God of truth.
The word truth is amen. It's the exact same word. You're so blessed if you believe
that this is the word of truth. Not the words of men, but as
it is in truth, the word of God. Amen. It's the revelation, verse 1,
of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him to show unto His servants,
His chosen ones, His elect. It's His revelation. He gave
it. God gave it to Christ. This book
is called The Revelation, not Revelations, is it? It doesn't say that, does it?
Revelation. The translators put the revelation
of Saint John the Divine. Well, I marked that out. They
put that there. John wouldn't even say his name.
It's not John's revelation. This is the revelation of Jesus
Christ that God gave to John. Besides, there's never the name
saint in front of a man's name in the Bible. It's not there. Flattery and titling. No sir.
No sir. This is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. This book, all the revelation. It's not something... These aren't
new things. These aren't novel things. These
aren't things that nobody knew up to this point. No, no, no,
no, no, no. Our Lord preached to His disciples
one time, and He says, beginning in the books of Moses and the
prophets and the Psalms, He expanded unto them all the things concerning
Himself. The whole Bible is a Him book. It's Him. All the prophets gave
witness of Him. To Him give all the prophets
witness. They are they which testify of Me, Christ said. It's
a hymn book. It's all about Christ. The Old
Testament says, somebody's coming, somebody's coming. Every jot,
every tittle, every line, the Law and the Prophets all wrote
everything they wrote to prepare the coming of Jesus Christ to
this earth. The Son of God come down to this
earth to save His people from their sin. Alright? The Gospels
say, He's here! Oh my God, He's here! The Epistles
say, He's coming again! And the revelation is recounting,
actually, what already has happened. Very little hasn't been fulfilled
that's in the book of Revelation. Look at it here. It says in verse
1, things which must shortly come to pass. See that? Now,
when was this written? 2,000 years ago. Almost. Shortly
come to pass. Look at verse 19. Write the things
thou hast seen. To John, what do you have seen? What do you see in the past?
What has already happened? Things which are, right? The things
that's going on right now, John. And the things which shall be
hereafter. So you see, the majority in this book has already taken
place. God didn't write 65 books and
change the subject. It's the gospel of Christ. It's
the revelation of Jesus Christ. You know when you'll understand
the truth? And when you understand who Jesus Christ is. He said
to John, and you quoted, He has come and given us an understanding
that we might know Him that is true and we're in Him that is
true. This is eternal life. This is His Son, Jesus Christ.
This is the revelation. Paul said, when is the person
saved? When is the person saved? When
they decide to? No, sir. God purposed the chosen
people before this foundation of the world, put their names
in the Lamb's Book of Life, gave them to Christ to come to this
earth, to shed His precious blood, to pay for their sin. In time,
He sends the Holy Spirit to the preachers of the gospel. Every
single one of them will hear the gospel of Christ crucified. Every
single one of them will be given repentance, faith. Every single
one of them will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and confess
Him as believers baptized. Every one of them, not one without
exception. All right, they're all going
to hear this way. Purpose by God. Paul said this,
he said, here's what man is going to say, he said, when it pleased
God. Galatians 1, 16. When it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb, who gave me physical
life the first time, it pleased God to give me spiritual life.
God doesn't offer life, He gives life. God doesn't say, well,
you take the first step, you're dead. And you hath He quickened
who were dead in trespass and sin. Barney used to say, that
means graveyard dead. Stinking. Can't move, can't take
the first step. You take the first, you can take
every one after that. Dead. You have to be quick. And who?
His elect, or you wouldn't be. This is what saves dead sinners. Nothing else. No other message.
No other message. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me. And when He revealed Christ in
him, not to him, in him, he received a love, a heartfelt faith and
need and desire and a belief on the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. Paul had confidence in himself
before. and his works, and his righteousness,
and his morality, and his religion, and all he'd given up, and all
he'd done and hadn't done. He had confidence in that. But
when Christ came through the preaching of the gospel, laid
him in that dirt, Paul said, in me, that is, in my flesh dweller,
no good thing. Oh, here's my hope, Christ in
me. The hope of God. Christ is my
hope. Paul had hope in himself. Now
he had no other hope but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That
settles every question that anybody wants to ask. Who did it? Who did it? How did he do it?
Without you. When did he do it? When he pleased.
Why did he do it? Just because he pleased Him.
Nothing to do with you. To the praise of the glory of
His sovereign grace. The revelation of Jesus Christ.
We wouldn't know God if God didn't reveal His Son to us. And look
at verse 1. I've got to go on. Six more verses. He said He sent and signified
it by His angel unto John, servant John, who gave it to His people.
The other day, Darwin Pruitt preached the message on Obadiah,
and Mindy took it and taught it young people this morning.
Great message. His and hers. But Brother Darwin
said in that message, and Obadiah was just a farmer, but God called
him to be a preacher. Called him to preach one message,
and he preached and he's gone. And did his work. But Brother Darwin said, God
didn't say go into all the world and pass out Bibles and everybody
can figure it out for themselves. Did he? No. You can't, by searching,
find out God. You can't do it. The eunuch said,
how can I except some man show me? That's just the truth. Amen? That's how you heard it. That's
how I heard it. I thought I was pretty smart
until the knowledge of the glory of God came along. But Brother Darwin said, Christ
didn't say, go into all the world and pass out Bibles and everybody
read it and hope you figure it out. No, He said, go into all
the world and preach the Gospel. Please God, by the foolishness
of preaching, save them, but let them preach it. Alright,
so John preached. Our Lord was a preacher. John
preached. What did they preach? Verse 2,
He bear record of the Word of God. Verse 2. The Word of God. What is the Word? Peter said,
this is the Word of God which by the Gospel was preached unto
you. The testimony of Jesus Christ. This is my testimony. This was
His testimony. The testimony of Christ. Have
you ever given testimony in a court of law? Have you ever been called
a bear witness? Have you? And they tell you to
swear. You put your hand on a Bible
of all things. And they say, do you swear to
tell the truth? The whole truth. You leave out
any of it now, you haven't told it. The truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. Don't give your account of it
or your opinion of it. So help you God in the eyes of
God, in the hearing of God, before God as your supreme witness.
Do you swear? Well, Jesus Christ came. The
faithful witness. He said, the words I speak unto
you are true. And all His preachers are true. John preached the truth. What is the truth? Brothers and
sisters, the truth is not a doctrine. The truth is a person. The whole
truth and nothing but the truth. Christ is all. That's His name. The truth. I'm the way. What
does that mean? The way to God. Way to be saved. The truth and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father, but by Him, Christ said. The truth. And that's what we preach, John
said. The testimony of Jesus Christ
and all things that He saw. John said, I preach what I've
seen. What did you see, John? Well,
he wrote in John 1, we beheld His glory. Peter one time said,
we can't help but speak the same things we've seen and heard.
What, Peter? He said, we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. Queen Sheba went to hear the
wisdom of Solomon and what do you think she's talking about
on the way home? Not that temple, not the food. Solomon, the king
on the throne. She says when she saw his ascent
unto the throne, there was no more spear left in him. It's
true everything said about you. And it's true all that's said
of Jesus Christ. Nothing like Him. Wisdom personified. The truth personified. Right. And all God's people, if you
see Christ, you're going to speak of Christ. Every preacher that's
ever really seen the that the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ can't help but speak Christ. It's not
just Christ-centered. It's all Christ. It's Christ-centered
and everything around it. And everything included. Right?
It's a point to cry. A point to cry. Blessed, verse 3, blessed is
he that readeth. Hear the words of the prophecy
and keep those things which are written therein. The time is
at hand. Blessed. Oh, how blessed. Have you already
been blessed reading with me this morning? Wasn't that a blessing,
Nehemiah? Wasn't that a blessing? We need to stand. It's the Word
on which I stand. Standing on the promises. It's
a good thing. You stand out of respect. Oh, how blessed we are to read
this. The world is full of Bibles and people don't read them. You
do, don't you? Oh, how blessed. To hear it.
How blessed we are to hear it. The people wept and they were
convicted. What are we going to do like
the people at Pentecost? Well, a man stood up and said,
here's what you do. And he gave them the understanding. And they heard. Oh, how blessed
we are to hear. One time our Lord said to His
disciples, blessed are your ears, they hear. He said, who do men
say that I am, the Son of Man? Some say this, some say that.
Like today, many different opinions about who Jesus is. He said,
whom do you say that I am? And Simon Peter said, I just
imagine he said it pretty boldly, thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Yes, we believe and we're sure
that thou art the Christ. He said, blessed art thou, Sandor
John. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. You didn't figure that out and nobody taught it
to you but me, but my father. You must be elect. Oh, how blessed we are. Do you
feel blessed to be here this morning? I do. Blessed are they
that care, blessed are they that keep. those things which are
written, and that means just what it says. When you keep something,
that means you don't want to lose it. You lay hold of it like
your life depends upon it, like Jacob said, I will not let you
go until you bless me. You hold fast the hope of your
confidence, steadfast in, here's something for you. Would you
sell it to me? No. You bought the truth, now
sell it not. No, you can't have this. My life. It also means do what He says.
We do what He says. For the time is at hand. See
that? The time is at hand. You know,
it was 2,000 years ago when He wrote that. A day has gone by that quick. How many believers have come
and gone? How many saints have died? Right now, as I'm speaking, people
are dying. It's that quick. And we shout
to them. Very short. Time is at hand.
The time of our Lord is coming. The time of our Lord is coming
for us. It's at hand, right now. It's at hand. And this church
later says, come quickly. John, verse 4, to the seven churches
which are in Asia. Who's he writing to? God's people. He's writing to the churches,
right? He's saying it to the world. It's to the church. Let
him hear, he that hears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith to the churches. This is to God's people, not
everybody. Grace to you. Grace be unto you. Sovereign, eternal, saving, keeping,
preserving, grace unto you. And peace. Peace by the blood
of His cross be unto you from God who sent Christ. And Christ, which is, don't you
love this, which is. Is what? He is what He is. He
is who He is. He said, I am that I am. He is. Always has been. And was. He is now what He was. He doesn't
change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. What's that? The Lord. And He
is to come for His people. From the seven spirits. What's
that? Well, it goes on to say in chapter
5, I believe it is. It's the eyes of the Lord. And
meaning, there's only one Spirit. One Holy Spirit. Right? It's
the Word of Perfection. Meaning, an omniscient Lord. omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent,
all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, Lord of glory. God is everywhere,
beholding all things, and He's before His throne. He's on His
throne. That's where He is. I asked David
one time. They said, no, here's our God.
He does what we let Him do. He's idols. We carry Him around,
and if we decide, we'll make Him a God. Where's your God? David said, your gods are a bunch
of idols. They have no hands but your hand,
no feet but your feet. I'm here to tell you, I'm in
my God's hands. Everything and everyone is. He said, my God's
in the heavens, and He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. God
will work. This is the God of the Bible.
This is my God, David said. God will work and nobody can
say anything about it. Amen? Is that your God? Free will. You don't know God.
If you have any question about free will, don't know God. God's
people know it's of His will. His will. His will. Everything.
Especially salvation. He is, He was, He is to come.
Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. He's on His throne. Verse 5,
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, listen
to this, four things here. Faithful witness, first begotten
of the dead, prince of the kings of the earth, and Him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. He's the faithful
witness. Aren't you glad God sent someone to tell the truth?
The truth has made us free. The truth keeps us preserved. It's like salt. Cures us, Steve.
Cured us. Aren't you glad? Christ is the
truth. Wickedness is an abomination
to His lips. Falseness. He can't... He's a
God who cannot lie. Faithful witness. First begotten
of the dead. Everybody's afraid to die. Nobody
wants to die. Our Lord, the Scripture says,
has come and given us freedom from this clear-up death of all
our lifetime, subject to bondage. See, Christ died. Who shall anything
to charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies it. How?
By Jesus Christ paying for our sins. God says, accept it. We're
accepted in the blood. Sins paid for. Righteousness
imputed. That's it. Who is He that condemned
it? Christ died. Matt, ho! Yea, rather, is risen again.
He didn't stay dead. He rose from the grave, proving
who He is, what He said was true, what He did was done. That God
accepted it, the great High Priest. Veiled and the temple torn. Christ
came out of the Holy of Holies. Accepted! Sins paid! Preparing a place for you. Coming
back to get you. He rose again. Rather, He's risen. And also maketh intercession
for us. Liveth to make intercession for us. Oh, He's the first begotten
of the dead. And all His people are begotten
from the dead too in Him. He's the Prince of the kings
of the earth. He's the Prince of the kings of this earth. Oh, the world likes to talk about
Prince Charles and Prince, what are their names? Prince William
and Prince Harry. Right? And everybody likes to
talk about them, likes to read about them. The news is full
of them. These would-be kings, these supposed
kings, you know, they don't reign over anything. Okay? But our Lord is the King of kings
and Lord of lords. Oh, Lords in Parliament, they
don't rule anything. No. Jesus Christ is the King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. The King's heart is in the hands
of the Lord. Joseph Biden's heart is in Jesus
Christ's hand. So is the Governor of Virginia.
So is the local delegate. So are you. Like the rivers of
water turneth, whithersoever he will. Heart, mind you. The heart, mind you. Who can
do that? Does that mean you've got a free
will? Shoot. I'm going to do with you as I
will. Pharaoh! That's our God. Amen? Amen. Look at this. He's loved us,
this King of glory, who came from glory. Loved His people. Who? The churches. God doesn't
love everybody. Having loved his own, which are
in the world, whom he said, you're not of the world. I've come to
bring you out of this world. His own is he loved. He loved
us. He hadn't changed the subject
from the church. He loved us, his people, his
church. Feed the church which he purchased. Church of God which
he purchased with his own blood. and washed us from our sins in
His own blood. Did Jesus Christ put away the
sins of His people? Did He? Yes, sir. I'm here to tell you that Jesus
Christ... I'm here to tell you. That's
what I'm here supposed to tell you. That's what I want to tell
you. That Jesus Christ came to this earth sent by God to save
a people loved by God, given to Jesus Christ by God. and a
covenant before the world began, to fulfill the law for them,
the second act of the Lord. He fulfilled every jot and tittle.
And when he hung on that cross, God made him to be sin for them.
God switched places, made them to be us, him to be us, and us
to be him. imputed, charged the righteousness
of Christ to us, and the sin of God's people to Christ. And
God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Who's us? His people. All of His people. My sheep,
He said. I lay down My life for My sheep. For the transgression of My people
was He stricken. And Jesus Christ put away every
sin of every one of God's people, finally, fully, freely, forever. Amen. If you're a sinner, Amen
and amen. Yes, he did. That's the gospel. There is no other gospel. It's
not good news if you have to help a man. It's not good news
if you have to make a partial payment. You don't have a cent.
You don't have anything. You don't have any redeeming
qualities. You have nothing. In my hands, no price I bring.
Simply to the Christ of the cross I pray. Is that you? Amen. He loved us and washed us from
our sins in His own blood. And He's made us kings and priests
unto God and His Father. What's that mean? Well, He's made His people to be children
of the King. His people are children of the
King. In Revelation 20 it says we shall
reign with Him. Rain? Well, you know, that's
symbolic, don't you? We're just like, what we're going
to be is like Mephibosheth sitting there at the table while Solomon's
doing all the raining and what do we say? Amen. Whatever he
did, amen. Mephibosheth is not controlling
or judging anything. He is, but he's saying, he's
his yes man. Amen. Amen. So be it. He believed everything
David did. Everything David did, he was
right and just and true, and he's just glad to be there. He's
there like one of the king's sons. And priests. He made us priests
unto God. Over in 1 Chronicles, it's written
about David. making all the Levites. And there
were thousands, thousands of Levites. And he gave them jobs
to do. And some of them were given permanent
jobs to sing. Would you like to have that job? Just sing. That's it. Yes, sir. I can do that. Sing. We're going
to provide you food. We're going to provide you housing.
We're going to provide you your clothing. We'll provide everything
for you. Just sing. That's what all of God's people
were. Priests in the house of God. Some of them were porters.
You know what a porter is? Hey, porter. Hey, porter. It's
a doorkeeper. One stands at the door of the
house of God. Come on in, brother. Hello, sister. Good to see you. Come back. David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of God than to dwell in the tents. The tents of the
wicked are temporary. The house of God is permanent.
Wasn't you? Anthony? He said, this is better
than life. Yes, just make me a doorkeeper. Porter. What a good job. Made us priests. There are people
who chop wood and wash dishes. Oh, let me have a job. Look at verse 6. To Him be the
glory, to the praise of the glory of His grace, and dominion. Oh, He hath dominion. The government
is on His shoulders, and of His dominion it shall never end. So all the people, to Him be
glory and dominion forever and ever. Turn to one scripture. We've
stayed here, but look at Revelation 7. Just look at this real quickly. I know you love it. He said in
verse 9, After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which
no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues, stood before the throne, before the Lamb, clothed with
right robes, palms in their hand, and cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne
and under the Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about the throne, and the elders and the four beasts fell before
the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God
forever and ever. Amen. That's about all they're
saying up there. And that's all I've got to say.
That's all we need to say. Amen. Look at verse 7. One more
verse in our text. Revelation 1. Behold, He's coming.
He's coming with clouds. The only thing that obscures
Him from our vision right now is a cloud. But every eye shall see Him.
Men say, I don't believe Him. Well, you're going to find out.
Every eye shall see Him. They that pierced Him, they said,
we will not have this man reign over us. Oh, but He does. But He does. And all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of Him. Everybody that doesn't believe
Him, they're all going to say, oh my God, when they see Him.
They're all going to say that. In horror. Wailing. And while the whole world is
saying, oh no, God's people won't say even so. Amen. He's come. He's come for us. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.