I'll put that in your pocket
somewhere. Hey. I'm going to go ahead and re-introduce
Richard this morning. This is Roland Brown, Chairman
of the President's Committee. He's a dear friend, faithful
friend of Richard Nelson. He's been here many times, Richard
has been here several times, and his wife, Laurie, has been
a wonderful contributor. Appreciate you coming, appreciate
you being here. I'm going to sit down. And maybe that's one
of you. And I don't want to do anything
against it, unfortunately. And the first PM is number 223. Good night, everybody. Goodbye. Oh, let my soul arise,
shake off my guilty fears. Sublime sacrifice, my mighty
head appears. He's worn up from my shirt he's
tanned. My name is written on his pants. My name is written on his pants. He ever lives above. for me to intercede. In all redeeming love, His precious
blood to cleanse. His blood of comfort always brings. Sprinkle down the throne of grace. Sprinkle down the throne of grace. I prayed to be there, in need
of Calvary. And for a special prayer, they
strongly laid my fears. Forgive me, Lord, forgive me,
Christ, for I have transgressed the sinner's heart. Nor let that
rancor sit her down. The Father gives Him praise,
His heart is warm, He cannot turn away. The presence of His Son, His
Spirit answered to the cross, And help me, I am poor of heart,
And help me, I am poor of heart. My God is blessed by His learning
voice, I hear. He owes me for His child, I can
no longer fear. Father, have a father kind, and
Father, have a father kind. Y'all may be seated. you Love divine, all-loving, filling,
Joy of heav'n, return to them. Fixed in us thy fond overwhelming,
All thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, Thou art all-conscious,
Pure and manifest, love Thou art. Filling us with Thy praise in
every trembling heart. Bring, O bring Thy loving Spirit
into every troubled breath. Let us all in Thee inherit Let us find our place to rest,
Take away our cares to sin, How could it so vaguely ring, In
the name that's been ringing, Let our hearts have liberty. Come, Almighty, surely deliver,
let us all thy life receive. Suddenly returneth never, nevermore
thy temple clean. Be free, Lord, be always with
me, serve me as my Lord so love. Great and crazy, without fleeting,
glory is thy first name alone. Finish me, my new creation, pure
and thoughtless, let us be. Let us be thy great salvation,
perfectly restored in thee. Change from glory into glory,
till in heaven we place our faith. May we cast our crowns before
Thee, Lord, and wonder, love, and pray. Turn with me this morning to the book of Revelation,
chapter 1. The book of Revelation, chapter
1, will read the first eight verses. 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
angels unto his servant John. who bear record of the word of
God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things
that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and
they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein, for the time is at hand. John, to
the seven churches which are in Asia, Grace be unto you, and
peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come,
and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, and from
Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten
of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto
him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with
clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which hear
him, And all kindreds of the earth shall well because of him,
even so. Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the Guinea
and the Indians, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and
which is to come, the Almighty. Our great heavenly Jehovah, thank
you Lord for the multitude of blessings you bestowed upon us.
You've blessed us much more than we deserve, Lord. We thank you
that in these trying times we know your blessings and your
mercies are renewed every day. We pray, Lord, that you keep
your hands upon us, order our steps daily, Forgive us of our
sins. Help us, Lord, to repent. Not
only believers, but this country as well. We have an untoward
generation, Lord. Do not know you, do not seem
to call on me, Lord. Help us repent. Lord, we pray
for all your true men who stand up to preach this morning. Give
them the liberty to preach, and give them to hear us, Lord, ear
to ear. We thank You, Lord, for the blood shed for us again.
It's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen. God's will, God's will, God's
will, God's will, God's will, God's will, Stay by me. Stay, oh stay, with
God. And all things will remain by me. So the fullness of God's will,
they will, they will give you the Word of God. You have the power to do what
is right. I believe in love and in God,
God's will The free praise, the rhythm of
peace. Behold the Lamb of God. His glory prevails by far and
near. In the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. See that earth, see where they
flow. Water and life is just a part
of God. So still your spirit, faith,
and love in the cross. If I never found His truth, the
love of God, His love for me. Christ, the only begotten Son
of God, God is real. Some dream great, some dreams
in vain. This needs to be turned on. This
needs to be turned on. Turn back with me to where our
brother read in Revelation chapter 1. Let me say thank you for allowing
me to be here. Brother Paul and Mindy welcomed
us into their house. We had a good visit with Mike
and Debbie. I'm thankful for the Lord. I don't
know how to start this, but let us say this. The first thing that enters my
mind when someone asks me to preach is, Lord, leave me not alone.
Leave me not unto myself. I want to look at two verses. Verses 7 and 8. If you read the
first chapter of Revelation, I encourage you to do that sometime
this evening or tomorrow, you'll see that the Lord describes Himself
in 17 or 18 different titles. 17 or 18 different titles is
given unto him. And then John says in verse 7,
Behold, he cometh. Who's cometh? The one he just
described. The one he just described here.
In these 17 or 18 different titles is given to him. He's the king
of kings. Lord of lords. He is the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. He is He that washed
us in His own blood. He is He that died for us. These
titles represent who He is. And John looks and says, there
He is. Behold, He cometh. And as we
go down through this, let us keep in mind this word, behold. It is standing at amazement.
It is to bring attention. You remember what God the Father
said? He said, Behold My servant, whom
I uphold, Mine elect, and whom My soul delight. And then when
John the Baptist saw Him coming, John said, Behold the Lamb of
God, who taketh away the sin of the world. And now here John
on the Isle of Patmos is in the Spirit on the Lord's day. The
Lord had visited him, and taught him, and told him, and he said,
the things that you see, you write them down. You put them
in a book, and you send them to the seven churches of Asia,
and that's us. He's just not talking about the
seven churches back there. He's talking about the church
today. The whole number, seven, represents all of God's elect.
Send them to the churches, and read this unto them. Preach this
unto them. Tell them what God has given
you." And he says, Behold. Behold, he cometh. What a statement. What a statement. And then he
tells us, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, John is
referring us back to the second coming of Christ. This is what
he's talking about. Our Lord had already came into
this world. He had already lived in this
world. He had already died. He ascended back unto glory.
He had already redeemed us from our sin. He had already washed
us in His own blood. And now, He's gone unto the Father,
sat down on the right hand of God, and He rules there all things. This pandemic is not out of control. It's exactly where God put it. Out of mind, out of shape, out
of sort, but not God. God is ruling and reigning and
directing all things for one purpose, and that is the salvation
of His people. To the glory that would do Him
that we may worship Him in spirit and in truth, and rejoice in
Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in this flesh. That's the purpose
that all this thing is working to. that God would be honored,
that He would be magnified, and that He would be glorified by
His people, by His people. And John here says, Behold, He
cometh. Not He's coming, He cometh. He is right here amongst us today
in spirit. If He's not here, then we might
as well leave. If we're the only ones gathered
here in our bodies and in our minds, we might as well walk
out the door. But He's told us that where two
or three are gathered together in My name, I will be in the
midst of them. Do we take Him at His Word? We
believe that He's here. His Spirit has joined with our
spirits that we may be able to worship Him. That's the only
way we can worship Him, is in spirit and in truth. led by His
Spirit, directed by His Spirit, encouraged by His Spirit, and
uplifted by His Spirit, that we may offer unto Him the glory
that is due Him, and oh, at our best faith, at our best faith,
we're altogether vanity. We don't worship Him as we should.
We forget. Your pastor just spoke. We let
things come between us. We let things distract us. But,
oh, leave us not unto ourselves. He will never leave us. He will
keep us, and guide us, and direct us. So who's coming? Who's coming? Who's coming? This same Jesus. This same One. There's not another. This same one that you've seen
Him go away. You remember what in Acts chapter
1, I believe it is, our Lord had just preached the sermon,
just spoken to His disciples. And as He spoke these words,
the Scriptures tell us that while they beheld Him, He was taken
up out of their sight, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, there stood two
men in white apparel with them. And these two men, I'm sure in
unity in spirit, in unity in mind, whether one spoke and the
other agreed, I don't know. But these two men which said,
you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? This
same Jesus, which is taken up into heaven shall so come again
in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." We expect,
we expect this same Jesus that walked the shores of Galilee
for 33 years, we expect by reading His Word, understanding what
He's told us, it's going to be the same One that comes back
to receive us to Himself. He's not going to send an angel.
He's not going to send this or that one. He's coming Himself. And this is what John says. Behold,
He's coming. He's coming. This should drive a fear of everyone
outside of the grace of God. Every one of our children. Our
friend, our loved one, should tremble at this statement. Behold, He cometh. Knowing the
terror of the Lord. Knowing the terror of the Lord.
What do we do? We attempt to persuade men. Come to Christ. Look to Christ. Lean on Christ. Come hear the gospel. Come, be
with us. Come, let us worship together."
But oh, at the same time, that it drives the fear into those
who believe not. What comfort! What comfort it
gives to you and I, who by the grace of God have been given
faith in Christ. What comfort it is! What peace!
What joy it is to know that He's coming back! He is coming after
me. He is coming to receive me unto
Himself, that where He is, I shall be also. Many of God's sheep, oh many,
many of God's sheep are under heavy trials, heavy tribulations,
heavy burden, heavy afflictions, because of this old sin nature
that we live in. But be of good cheer. Or be of
good cheer. You believe in God? He said,
Believe also of me. For in my Father's house are
many mansions. He said, If it was not so, I
would have told you so. And I go and prepare a place
for you that where I am, there you may be also. Behold, He is
coming. He is coming. But Paul said this in Romans
8 and verse 18. Although we are under trials
and tribulations, sorrows, persecutions, for I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time is not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us." When He comes, He's on His way,
He's coming, He's coming, He's cometh. When He comes, oh, the
joy, the gladness, the rejoicing, It can't be compared. These troubles
and trials will be forgotten because of the joy that we shall
receive in Him. But this same Jesus, oh, the
first coming, we've seen Him come first by faith. Born in
a manger. Obeyed. How is that possible
that God can become obeyed and be planted into a virgin womb. How is that possible? Only by
the power of God. This is God's work. Man has nothing
to do with it. God did this for His own people.
And He did this to show His glory and His power and His majesty.
I took upon myself flesh, being made flesh as a man. He humbled Himself. I don't understand
these things. These things go over my mind,
but by the grace of God, He's worked within us to believe these
things, to proclaim these things, and to rest in these things,
and say, surely He cometh. Oh, when God took upon Himself
flesh, we thought this was the greatest stoop that ever happened
in all the world. But the greatest stoop that our
Lord could take was to be made like unto me. Oh my soul, can
you imagine the King of Glory down here in the pit of sin? What a stoop! What a stoop this
was! And then, living here in this
flesh for some 33 years, with all the cares of all these people
laid upon Him, He cried there in the Garden of Gethsemane,
Lord, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But He
knew. He said, for this reason came
I into the world. I came for a purpose, and that
purpose was to satisfy God's justice on behalf of my people,
and whatever it takes. Whatever it took, Him knowing
all that would befall Him, Him knowing all that was about to
be partaken of here. The Scripture says that His sweat
became as great drops of blood. Oh, the agony, the torment of
His heart, knowing that He was made sin for His people. This
physical suffering, although it was great, Although it was
greater than anyone in this world can ever imagine, the suffering of God sending
His Son in the shape and the likeness of man. And there, when
He cried out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? This is what drove him to sweat
great drops of blood, knowing that his soul was in agony over
this thing of sin that he took upon to himself. And the Scripture
says he was made sin for us. Then he was arrested. There is
a common thief. Oh, what degradation! What blasphemy was put upon Him? The Lord of Glory was beaten,
mocked, brought through the streets of Jerusalem in humiliation and
sorrow. He was stripped naked, stripped
naked so that all could see Him. They looked upon Him. And then,
if that was not enough, they laid him down on this piece of
wood, and drove spikes through his hands and his feet, and raised
it up and dropped it into the very hole that was big for it. What's happening there? What's
happening here? Why is this taking place? God's
justice is being satisfied. God's law is being fulfilled. The wrath of God is being appeased
upon this sinner's substitute. All of this happened for a purpose.
And if only one sinner was saved, he must do the same thing. The
same thing. So this is the reason it's so
personal. What he did? Everything that he did. Everything
that he suffered, he did it for me. He did it for you. But you can say he did it for
me. If I'm the only one that was to be saved in all the world,
he must do the same thing. There's no big sins and little
sins in the eyes of God. Sin is sin. And this is the way
God sees it. the soul that sinneth, it must
die." And this is what he did. He came into this world, he lived,
and he died under the wrath and judgment of God against sin.
But John said, oh, behold, he cometh. He didn't stay in the
tomb. He didn't stay there in the tomb.
It was not enough to save his people for him to come and live
a holy life, a perfect life. The Scriptures tell us he was
a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. But it also tells
us he had no sin. He knew no sin. But he was made
sin that you and I might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Oh, this great work that he took upon himself, he took upon himself
willingly. He willingly came. He willingly
gave. He willingly suffered on my behalf. He said, no man taketh my life
from me. I give it of myself. I willingly
do this thing because God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son. Now, don't misunderstand this.
Men today say, oh, God loves everybody the same. No, He don't.
No, He don't. Brother Henry said years ago,
he came to Dingus, one of the first times he came, back in
the early 80's. He says there are two lives born
in hell. God loves you and Christ died
for you. If we take this as a whole, it
is a lie. But if we take it by faith in
Jesus Christ, it's the most precious thing we'll ever hear. It's the
most precious statement that we will ever hear. Because when we're without strength,
When we were dead in trespasses and sin, He came unto us and
created life within us, causing us to rise from the dead, causing
us to walk with Him by faith, creating faith within us. These
things are not ours. These things are given to us.
Everything that you and I have, except the sin that does so easily
beset us, is freely given to us by God Himself. Our sin that
we have is ours, and that's the only thing that we can lay claim
to. When the fullness of time was
come, when God's appointed time was come, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Well, why did He do
that? Why did God send Christ to do
these things? Read the next verse. Galatians
4, verse 4 and 5. To redeem. He came for a purpose. And that purpose was to redeem
His people from their sin. How did He do this? You follow
His life. From the time that He left heaven's
glory until the time that He returned unto heaven's glory,
all that He did, He did it for this purpose. To redeem them
that were under the law. that we might receive the adoptions
of sons." Did He do it? Did He do it? Did He finish the
work? Did He accomplish what He came
to do? The Father said He did when He raised Him from the dead.
Brought Him and set Him down at His own right hand there on
the throne of glory. Giving Him power over all flesh. Giving Him power over all things
in all the world. You say, well, what about All
things. All things. I don't understand this. That
makes no difference. He didn't tell us to understand
it. He said believe it. And that by faith we do. But
even that, oh, even that faith must be given to us. And even
when He gives His faith unto us, it's so weak because of the
sinfulness of the flesh, it's so trying I wonder, do I even
believe it? How can a man in my condition,
the sin that comes in one place, not another, how can I be a child
of God and still have these imaginations, these thoughts, and these tendencies
dwelling here within me? So we turn from ourselves. We
turn from ourselves and say, not unto us, not unto us, but
unto thy name, good glory, power, majesty, dominion, both now and
forever. I'm so thankful that this verse
is written in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 24. Who his own self
bears. our sin in His own body on the
tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live under righteousness
by whose stripes we are healed. And John said, Behold, He cometh.
How is He coming? He is coming the same way He
went, with the clouds. I believe it's going to be the
same cloud. Same cloud that he went up with, we're going to
bring him back. His white cloud doesn't pass
away, oh no. Even the clouds, even the clouds are under his
authority. The waves of the sea are under
his authority. Mr. Gill said, this denotes the
grand and magnificent manner in which he will come. making
the clouds His chariots, and to strike terror into His enemies,
but all at the same time, rejoicing the hearts of those that believe."
Rejoicing the heart. What a grand and glorious thing
this will be when we behold our Savior face to face. We shall
see Him as He is, and we shall be made just like Him. My mind
can't comprehend that. That's done went by my mind. But oh, thanks be unto God that
He has given me faith to rest right there. I believe, Lord,
help thou my unbelief. His coming in the clouds will
represent His power. That's what David said in Psalm
68, verse 34. Ascribe ye strength unto God.
His excellency is over Israel, and His strength is in the clouds. He rules. He reigns. He directs. He governs all things. All things. He came once, the
Scripture tells us, as a tender plant. as a root out of dry ground. A babe wrapped in swaddling clothes
and laid in a manger. But now, when He comes back,
His heavenly glory will be as clouds, robed in righteousness
and true holiness. Robed in true, what the Scripture
says, His vesture dipped in blood. He's coming back as King of kings
and Lord of lords. Behold, He cometh with clouds,
and every eye shall see Him." This is not going to be done
in a corner. This is not going to be done in a corner. Now,
His birth, when He came and was born in Bethlehem, the wise men
proclaimed it. The Old Testament prophets prophesied
of it. But there was few who knew about
it then. Few knew about Him. And those that did know about
Him, had little thought of Him. But oh, when He comes a second
time, every eye shall see Him. Those that are dead shall be
raised. Those that have passed on in
Old Testament times shall be raised to the point that every
eye shall see Him. Every eye. Every man that has an eye shall
see Him. The righteous, made righteous
by the blood of Christ and the grace of God, will see Him and
be glad. Oh, they will rejoice. They shall
see Him as His glory. And they shall see Him as He
is. The first time that we will ever see Him as He is is when
we see Him returning. We see Him by faith now. None
of us has ever seen the Lord except by faith. We see Him in
Holy Scripture in type, shadow, and picture, but these eyes,
these natural eyes have never laid eyes upon Him. But they
will. But they will. Because He cometh. Because He cometh. And we shall
see Him as He is, and the Scriptures tell us that we will know Him
as we are known. I don't understand that. But
we're going to have a knowledge of Him just as He has knowledge
of us. We're going to be like Him, made
like Him, and see Him as He is. The wicked shall see Him in tremor.
Those outside of the grace of God, when He returns, it will
be too late. He's not coming to bring grace.
He came the first time preaching grace and truth. Grace and truth. He's coming back. Preaching judgment
and condemnation. He shall judge the world. And
they also which pierced him. I looked at this this morning.
First time I'd seen what it was talking about here. We only read, or I only read
in Scripture, where there was one soldier that came up and
pierced him with that spear. I only read of one. They didn't
say it was a soldier. One soldier came up and pierced
him with that spear. And if you watch the movies around
Easter and this and that, there's a little bit of blood trickle
down. Oh no. When that soldier came by and
he drove that spear up into the side of our Lord Jesus Christ,
all of his blood came forth. Every drop of blood that was
in his body came forth. That's what it takes to save
one sinner. That's exactly what it takes to save one sinner.
Every drop of his blood. But I looked at it again. Paul mentioned this. When did we pierce the Lord? You remember what our Lord said.
He said, when I was hungry, you gave me no meat. When I was in
prison, you didn't visit me. And then He tells His elect that
they did. And they both asked this question. Lord, when did we do this? And
He said, as much as you do it under one of the leaves of these
My children, you've done it unto Me. When this world persecutes
His people, they are persecuting Christ. When they persecute and
pierce His people, it is as if they are persecuting Christ Himself. For I am Him for one. In Christ, I am one with Him.
Made one, accepted in Him. In the Father's eyes, when He
sees the Son, He sees me. And when He sees me, He sees
His Son. Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter
2 and verse 11, the lofty looks of a man shall be humbled, and
the naughtiest of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone
shall be exalted in that day. In that day. And all the kindred
of the earth shall wail because of Him. All the people in all
nations are going to come and wail. Some will be wailing with
joy, unspeakable. Others will be wailing, crying
for the rocks and the trees to fall upon them to hide them from
the faith of their God. Let's look at verse 8 for just
a minute. I am Alpha and Omega. The beginning
and the ending, says the Lord, which is, which was, which is
to come, the Almighty. Oh, the Almighty. He's telling us that I am first
and last in salvation. I am first and last in redemption. I am first and last in all things. God is the first cause of all
things. Explain that. We just did it. God is the first cause of all
things. I don't see it. I don't see it
clearly either. But the Scripture says it. So
we believe it by grace. We believe it. And we rest there.
When things come upon us that we don't understand, It causes
us anguish sometimes, it causes us to stress sometimes, it causes
us to doubt, but not for very long. When we go back to the
Word of God, we find it. I do all these things. I do all
these things. Whatever your state in life is
right now, this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. So let us rest there. Let us
take it and say, Lord, I don't understand it. I'm not going
to try to explain it. Just give me grace to believe
it. And sit down and wait on the Lord. Lord, that God would give us
grace to just sit down, as Mother did,
and wait on the Lord. Let us worship Him. Let us find
peace and comfort in Him, because He is almighty. He can take care
of you and I. He will see us through, and He
will bring us into glory, because behold, He cometh for this purpose. Thank you.