Thou art mine. Okay, go back to Revelation 1.
Title and subject is, Blessed Book. Read again the
first three verses with me. Verses 1 through 3. 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, or them, by his angel 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. My desire for this message is,
as always, that God may be glorified and the author of this book may
be glorified for giving us this book, and that we will have a
greater appreciation for it after we hear this, and a greater desire
for it, a desire to look into it, and that the Lord would increase
our faith or give faith to someone does not yet have it. That's
my desire. It's a blessed book because the
blessed God wrote it. Blessed be the Lord. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy
name for this blessed book. It's blessed because of the blessed
subject of it. What a blessed subject. We're
going to look at that in a minute. And we are blessed to have it. just to have a copy of it, to
hear it, to read it, but most especially, to believe it. Believe
it. And this is so very relevant
in these last days, which Paul called perilous times, when most
people have turned away their ears from this, from the fable. Most people corrupt the Word
of God or reject it entirely. You know that so. They've twisted
it and corrupted it, and very few people actually believe this
to be the actual, literal Word of God. I believe, without a
doubt, that we are in those last days, spoken of by Amos the prophet,
who said there will be in the last days a famine, not of bread,
but of the hearing of the Word, the true brand that is, the hearing
of the Word. And he said that men and women
will run to and fro to seek the Word of God and shall not find
it. It will be so rare, so rare. I believe we're living in a day
like Samuel, who the Scripture says of that day, The Word of
God was very precious. Very precious in those days.
Very rare. Very rare. In Samuel's day, Samuel was one
of the only prophets around. So it was very precious. This
is the blessed Word of God because in verse 1 it says it's the revelation,
the revelation of Jesus Christ. The blessed revelation. We would
not know God. We would not know. who Jesus
Christ is, we would not know the mind, the will of God, if
God had not revealed himself to us, if God had not given us
this blessed revelation. And it says it's the revelation,
doesn't it? You know, that so-called Book
of Mormon says another revelation. It's exactly what the last chapter
of this book says. of those who add to, that the
Lord will add to them the plagues of this book. This is the revelation
of Jesus Christ which God, and you know, we've looked at these
verses before, but the whole book is of the Lord Jesus Christ. God wrote this book to show His
Son, show forth His Son. Sixty-six books. Now, he didn't
write sixty-five books on the subject of his son and then change
the subject. Now, this is the revelation of
Jesus Christ, and this is the gospel just like the other book,
which God gave unto him, verse 1, to show unto his servants. This is the Lord's book he gave.
A revelation of his mind, his will, and the mysteries. It's
by him. It's about him. It's God's autobiographies. I love to read autobiographies. But autobiographies, if a man
is honest, he won't say all good things about himself. I like
to read autobiographies. This is God's autobiography.
It's about himself. It's all about himself. It's
all about his son. And it's a biography of mankind. It's all about us,
isn't it? It's all about us and what God
does for sinners. He gave this to show unto his
servants these things. His servants. His people. The
Word of God is written to God's people. The Word of God is given
to the people of God. John wrote this. These things
are written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you might know and that you might believe. These things
are written unto you. Look at verse 11. The Lord said,
I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. What thou seest,
write in a book and send it unto the seven churches. You see that? The Word of God is written to
God's people. You know, that verse and others
made me want to look at this because I was reading, I read
all of the letters to the churches. And you would do well, we all
would do well to read those often because what the churches were
going through, what the Lord said to the churches, He says
to us. But He said in each one of those, unto the church at
Ephesus write, unto the church at Smyrna Write, write this down. Under the church at Pergamos,
write. Under the church at Thyatira,
under the seven churches, he said, write this down. Write
in a book so that they may have a copy, so that they can read
this over and over and over and over again. What a blessed gift
that God has written. This is written with the finger
of God. This is the actual Word of the
living God. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. The Word
of God. But this is given to his servants,
to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. In verse 19, he said, write the
things which thou hast seen, things which are, and the things
which shall be hereafter. And I've reminded you before
that this book, the last recorded entrance in this book, which
is, we believe, the Revelation perhaps, but it was almost 2,000
years ago. Okay? Almost 2,000 years ago,
the very last entry into God's Word. So he said, you write the
things you have seen. So that was before, prior to
that time. That was history before 2,000
years ago. And then he said, John, you write the things which
are. That is, the things that were going on at that present
day 2,000 years ago. And things which shall be hereafter,
he said, shortly. So, folks, most of this has already
been fulfilled. There remaineth very little to
be fulfilled. Because our Lord said, don't
be ignorant. A day is a thousand years. Don't
be ignorant of that. Time is short, He said. These
things must come to pass, and it will be very soon. These things
must come to pass. Why must they come to pass? Because
the Lord said in Isaiah 46, I have spoken it, I will bring it to
pass. He said, I have purposed it, I will do it. Whatever God has purposed, whatever
God has spoken, whatever God said before the world began,
purpose, predestined, it will come to pass. Why? Because He's
God. That's what makes Him God. And
it says shortly, very shortly. Turn over to the last chapter
in this book. Chapter 22. And it says this
four times to be exact. I'll come quickly. Revelation
22. Look at verse 6. Verse 6. He said unto me, These
sayings are faithful and true. They're faithful. And you can trust them, you can
believe them, because God is faithful. And they're true. Because
God cannot lie. They're true. And the Lord God
of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servant
the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly.
Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this
book. And down in verse 20, He which
testified these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. And what do God's people say
when He says, I come quickly? Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come,
I come quickly. So, He gave this blessed book
for us to read. And in these last days, time
is so short, redeem the time. He says, And he sent and signified
these things by his angel unto his servant John. He gave these
things to his angel to give unto John. Who was this angel? This
angel is the one declaring all of this to John all the way through
this book. You see, John heard it through
a messenger. Angel means messenger, by the
way. Well, I should have had you keep Revelation 22, but look
at it again. Revelation 22, this is who this
angel is. We don't know his name, but we
do know he was a man. Look at Revelation 22, verse
8. I, John, saw these things and
heard them, and when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship
before the feet of the angel which showed me these things.
He was so appreciative, he was so thankful. and he esteemed
the messenger of these things so highly that he fell down at
his feet. But the angel said unto me, verse
9, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy
brethren the prophets. Who was this? That's not important,
is it? His name, the Lord did not give
his name because the names of those that proclaim it are not
important. Like Paul wrote. Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Nothing. But
God is all. Well, just plant and water. God
giveth the end credit. It's his book. We just repeat
it. But he said, I am of thy brethren
the prophets. Could have been Samuel. Could
have been Isaiah, Jeremiah. Who knows? Could have been Elijah. And of them which keep the sayings
of this book. Worship God. Don't worship me,
worship God. So the Lord sent through His
angel. And He's still doing that. Under
the angel of the church at Ephesus. Under the angel or the messenger,
the preacher of the church. And He sent it to His servant
John, verse 2. It said, Who bear record of the Word of God. I,
John, bore record of the Word of God. I recorded it. John recorded
this. He wrote it down, as did others.
Thank God. Thank God we have a recorded
book to read. Others wrote the Scripture. And
Peter said this, no Scriptures of any private interpretation,
but holy men spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God. So
that's what John said. He gave this to me. God gave
it through Christ to His messenger and He gave it to me and I just
wrote it down. I wrote down what He told me.
They said, I bear a record of the Word of God. And so have
many other men. So have many other men. Moses,
Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Ezra, Nehemiah, and so on and
so forth. The Scripture says, The Lord
gave the Word, and great was the company of those that published
it. And how many preachers has the
Lord raised up to go in all the world and preach this Gospel?
God, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings. So he said, He gave me this to
bear record of. The Word of God. Not my thoughts.
Not my opinion. Not another man's opinion. But
to bear record of the Word of God and of the testimony of Jesus
Christ. This is the record. Remember
what John wrote? This is the record. He that hath
the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. This is the record that God hath
given us, that God hath given us an eternal life, and this
life is in His Son. This is the record. And this
is the testimony. The testimony. This is God's
testimony concerning His Son. This is the Son's testimony concerning
the Father. This is the Spirit's testimony
concerning the Son. This is the believer's testimony.
And you know the scripture that says, to the law and to the testimony,
to the word and to the testimony, if they speak not according to
my word, there's no light in them. If men are not speaking
what John says here, if men are not bearing record of the word
of God, if they're not preaching the word of God, if they're not
preaching the testimony, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
because there's no light in them. No light. And the fact of the
matter is, Most don't believe it's God's Word. They really
don't. I read to you a poll taken over
20 years ago. And I looked at it again just
the other day. And I'm quite sure these percentages
are much, much higher now. But I think a thousand so-called
clergymen were asked a few questions. And one of them was, do you believe
the Bible is the infallible, inspired Word of God? Do you believe the Bible is God's
Word? Eighty-five percent of Methodists
said no. Ninety-five percent of Episcopalians
said no. Eighty-two percent of Presbyterians
said no. 67% of American Baptists said no. And I guarantee it's much higher
than that now. 100% of God's people say yes. Note that. 100% of God's true
preachers say yes. God's people bear record that
this is the Word of God. Whether men believe it or not,
it's the Word of God. And it's not like that old saying,
God said it, And I believe it, and that settles it." No, it
didn't settle it because you believed it. God said it, and
that settles it. Whether men believe it or not,
it is. This is the record. The Word of God, the testimony
of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. John saw, blessed
is he that seeth the Son, and believeth on him. Christ said,
hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up. He that seeth the
Son. Seeth His glory. Seeth Him as
all and in all. Seeth Him as salvation. Seeth
Him as who He is. Seeth what He did. Who He is.
What He did and where He is now. Seeth Him sitting at the right
hand of the Majesty on high and sees their need of Him. Oh, the
things that He saw. John said this in his epistle. He said, That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, that is, beheld, and our
hands have handled. What, John? Not a what. It's a who. The Word of Life. Oh, my. Peter one time said, we can't
help but speak the things we've seen and heard. Well, what were
they speaking? They were speaking of Christ. They were preaching
Christ. So John bore record of Him. All things that he saw concerning
Him. Now, look at verse 3. And here's our text. Blessed. Oh, how blessed, blessed
of God, greatly favored, highly favored of God is he that readeth
the words of this prophecy. How blessed we are to have this
book. Oh, how blessed we are to have
it. And we take it for granted, not realizing or at least not
remembering what men went through, what God put various men through
in order for us to have a copy of this book. He put John on
the Isle of Patmos. He was exiled on the Isle of
Patmos for a long time, alone, by himself, which was a great
trial, was it not? Except that God was with him.
But he did that to give him this word. He put Paul in prison. For us to have this Word. And
then for us to actually have a copy of it to read. Go back
and study the lives of men like Luther and others. What all they
went through for us to have a copy of this Book. William Tyndall. Mindy and I watched a very good
documentary on William Tyndall. He's burned at the stake. He
wanted his English countryman to have a copy of the book, which
was only written in Latin, which the so-called Catholic Church
kept from the people. They knew that if people would
read this book, they couldn't have them in bondage anymore.
They couldn't tell that they wouldn't fall for their lies
anymore. So they suppressed it. They didn't want people to have
a copy of this book. Well, a man named William Tyndall,
God raised him up with a burning desire. for the people of his
country to have a copy of this book in their own language. And
he stood before a synod, a council of men who had the power to burn
him at the stake, cardinals and all that. And he pointed his
finger in their face and he said, if God willing, I'm going to
make it that the plow boy will know more about the Word of God
than you do. And he did, thank God, for men like William Tenney. But they did burn him at the
stake. They put his body on a stake and put hay around it and set
it on fire. And it burned him alive. But we have this book to read. Brother Don Vail sent me a video
of some people over in some communist country that they got a big shipment
of Bibles smuggled in, and these people were taking these Bibles
out like it was a treasure. They were looking at it like
it was the greatest thing they'd ever had in their life. Oh, blessed is he that readeth.
Few do. Few read this book. Very few
people read this book. Very few people care. Very few
people believe it. How blessed we are if we do.
How blessed we are to read. Isn't it a blessing just to read
it? What a blessing it is to have
this book. What a blessing it is to have
a desire to read it. The need to read it. Look over
at chapter 5. Look over here. You know that
we are not worthy of this book. We are not worthy of this book.
Brother Gabe and I were talking, discussing our messages on the
phone today. He's going to deal tonight with
the passage in Matthew 10 where the Lord said, you go into the
house, and if the house be worthy, let your peace be upon it. If
it's not worthy, leave. Well, we're not worthy of this
book. In chapter 5, it says in verse
1, I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a
book. Written within, on the backside,
and sealed with seven seals, I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open this book? To loose the
seals, that is, to open the understanding of who can do that. No man in
heaven nor on earth, neither under the earth, was able to
open the book, to reveal it, to open it, neither to look thereon.
I wept much because no man was found worthy. We are not worthy. to have this book. You know that? We're not worth
it. Oh, blessed. How blessed we are. Highly favored
of God if we have it and if we read it. Blessed is he that read
it. Go back to verse 3 now, chapter
1. Blessed is he that read it. What
a blessing to have it. What a blessing to read it. What
a blessing if you desire to read it, need to read it. Do you need
to read it? God's Word. Him speak to you. He says, Blessed
is he that hears the words of the prophecy. Blessed are they
that read, and blessed are they that hear it. I quoted to you
what Paul wrote to Timothy. The time is coming when they
will turn away their ears from the truth. People don't want
to hear this. They don't read it, and they don't want to hear
it preached to them. Oh, how blessed. we are to hear
it proclaimed. Oh, how blessed we are if we
can say with the eunuch of old, how can I understand this except
some man tell me? How blessed we are to hear it
proclaimed. How blessed we are if we want
to hear it preached. Please, God, by the foolishness
of preaching, what the world calls foolishness, but it's anything
but foolishness. It's the wisdom of God and the
power of God. You know that. How blessed we
are if we hear it Preach time and again the Word of God, and
so many people are not hearing it. And how blessed if you need to,
if you love to, if you want to. I was coming here tonight, and
Stephen Parks' car, his old Explorer, was out in front of me. I was
zipping down Scuffling Hill Road there. And about every Wednesday
night, you'll see that old white Explorer zipping down Scuffling
Hill Road. Where's he going? To hear the
Word of God. And on Sunday morning, you'll
see that old Explorer zipping down Scuffling Hill Road. Where's he going? To hear the
Word of God. Oh, how blessed. How blessed
we are if we want to. So many pass by. There's nothing
to them. They don't want to hear it. How
blessed we are. Faith cometh by hearing. Our
Lord said, Blessed are your ears, they hear. He said of some, they have ears
to hear, but they hear not. And then He said in verse 3,
Oh, how blessed are those that keep those things which are written
therein. And we have looked at that word
so many times, people, and you know the word keep means to lay
hold of it. The word keep means to treasure
it. The word keep means to embrace
the Word of God. Embrace it, lay hold of it as
something you don't want to lose. You don't want to sell it, buy
the truth and sell it not for anything or anyone. That's what
keep means. He said, He that hath my words,
and keepeth them, he that is at love with me. If you love
me, you'll keep my saying. That is, you won't let them,
like Samuel said, didn't let any of his word fall to the ground. Keep, oh blessed are those that
lay hold of the word. Hebrews 11 says, of all those
that died in faith, it says, they received the promises, the
Word of God, and having seen them afar off and were persuaded
of it, and embraced them. Embraced them. And if they'd
had opportunity to go back, they wouldn't have. They found what
they were looking for. Oh, how blessed are they that
keep these things that are written here, that lay hold, that embrace.
You must love the one who wrote it. You must love the one who
said this thing. David said it. And I read Psalm
119. As you know, the whole psalm,
every single verse speaks of God's Word. It's written in ancient
prose form, eight verses per stanza throughout, 176 verses.
And every verse speaks of the Word of God. And he said things
like that. He asked David, and David said what we feel. He said, Thy testimonies are
my delight. He said, They're my counselors.
You know when he said a multitude of counselors are safety? He's
not talking about men. He's talking about the Word of
God. He said, Your testimonies are
my counselors. Because they come from the counselor. He said,
Thy testimonies are the rejoicing of my heart. They rejoice my
heart. He said, they're so sweet to
my taste. Sweeter than a honeycomb. Sweeter than a honeycomb. He
said, as a lamp to my feet. I'd walk in darkness without
a light to my path. I wouldn't know where I was going.
He said, they're my comfort. They're my consolation. They're
my companions. The Word of God? Yeah. Because
it's His blood. He said they're my meat, my milk,
my necessary food. Peter said it. Thou hast the
words of life. He said we're born again by it.
The Word of God. We grow as babes with the sincere
milk of the Word. We're kept by it. God who upholds
all things by the Word of His power upholds His people with
this same Word. David said, It's my strength.
My strength. How do we know this is God's
Word? Let me give you several reasons, several ways. How do
we know this is God's Word? Well, number one, He revealed
it to us. You don't know until He reveals
it to you. We know, John said, that the
Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we might
know Him that is true. And we are in Him that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God in eternal
life. How do we know that? Through His blessed Word. He's
revealed it to us. How do we know this is the Word
of God? Well, not by logic, not by reasoning, not by searching,
not by studying, not by intellect, but by Him speaking to them. He really does speak to His people
through His Word. It's His voice. When Christ said,
My sheep hear My voice, it wasn't a figure of speech. This is His
Word. This is His voice. And He speaks
to His people. He said, My sheep hear My voice. The Shulamite maiden was asleep. And she said, it's the voice
of my beloved. She heard him speak. She didn't
see him, but she heard him. Now, people call that mysticism.
People say that's hogwash. You know why? Because he hasn't
spoken to them. He really does. He really does. From the first time he speaks
to you, then you know. He was speaking to them. Though
not an audible voice, yet through the Word, it is His voice. It is His voice. And our Lord
has to give you an ear to hear it. Here are several things. How do we know this is the Word
of God? The purpose of it. The purpose of it. God in love
to His people. God's love and mercy and grace
He was going to give this book, he purposed to give this book
to his people so that they would know him. That's his love, that's
his mercy, that's his grace. To show them his great salvation. Ah now, the purpose of it. Secondly,
the pattern of it. The pattern of it, the blueprint
of it. It's perfectly ordered in all things and sure. It's perfect. The construction
of it, the pattern of it, the blueprint of it. When our Lord
said to Moses, He said, see that you make all things according
to the pattern. And it's what's the pattern of it? Christ. Christ. All these 66 books, 40 authors,
that is 40 penmen, over 1,500 years. They didn't know one another. Most of them didn't know one
another. And they all, God said, write this down. And they might
not have known. In fact, some of them didn't
exactly know exactly what they were writing. That's what Peter
said. These things, they desired to
look into it. The angels did. But we now know in the last days
through the church the fulfillment of these things. But they all
wrote down what the Lord told them to write. Ezekiel and Daniel,
Hosea, and all of them wrote, and Moses and all that. And it
all tells the same story. It all comes together in a perfect
glory. It's like a tapestry, you know.
The back of it seems like a jumbled mess of threads, but you turn
it around and there's a face. The glory of Jesus Christ. The
pattern of it. The formation of it, as I just
said. Forty men over 1,500 years. You know how many people He tried
to stop it. I love that story of Jehoiakim,
the king of Judah, I think it was, or Israel won. And Jeremiah
wrote the book. And Jehoiakim, they were reading
it to him. He's sitting by the fire. And
Jehoiakim said, give me that. And he'd take a penknife and
he'd rip that page out and throw it in the fire. And they'd read
something else. He threw it in the fire. You
know Thomas Jefferson did that? A man that people admire? I don't.
At any rate, he threw it all in the fire. And you know what
the Lord did? He said, Jeremiah, write this down. He wrote it again. Why? How can
he do that? Because forever, O Lord, thy
Word is settled in heaven. The author ever lives. You can't
do away with the book because the author is in heaven. Listen to this. I just jotted
this down. We were going to sing a hymn
out of the Gatsby Pendulum. But this is wonderful. Joseph
Hart said, The Scriptures and the Lord bear one tremendous
name. The written and incarnate Word
in all things are The same. Listen to it again. The Scriptures
and the Lord bear one tremendous name. Didn't he say, I've magnified
my word above all my name? They bear one tremendous name.
The written and incarnate word in all things are the same. You can substitute Christ's name
wherever you see the word. You can substitute Christ's name.
In the beginning was the Word. So the formation of it, the majesty
of it. Heavenly language. This is God's
voice. No man spake like this man. The majesty of it. And I despise the way they're
corrupting it today and bringing it down into modern language,
so to speak, to try to make it understandable. That's not what
they're doing. They're trying to take away the
offense of it. They only consult to bring him
down from his excellency. I love the old king's language
because it's in the language of a king. Sovereignty of which
this modern world knows nothing about. The modern world knows
nothing about a true sovereign. They haven't seen one since,
I guess, since Saddam Hussein. A real sovereign can do as he
will with whom he will. But even he wasn't sovereign
because he was taken out. Well, this is in the language
of a sovereign king. It was a sovereign king that
told him to write it. King James. By the way, William
Tyndale, being burned at the stake, said in a prayer, Lord,
open the king's eyes. And he did. King James. The majesty of it, the mystery
of it. It's too wise for the simple,
it's too simple for the profound. The Pharisees couldn't understand
the simplest parables that our Lord gave, and yet the common
people heard them. The mystery of it. He's hid these
things from the wise and prudent. But he revealed them unto them.
They wouldn't know it either if he hadn't revealed them. The
mystery of it, the wisdom of it. You know what I wrote about
that, the wisdom of it? Nothing. It's too wise. How can you comment
on that? The wisdom of it. I'd be a fool
to try. Just read Proverbs 8. Okay, the
power of it. How do we know it's God's Word?
The power of it. Life-giving. We're born again. Not of corruptible sea, but of
incorruptible. The Word of God that liveth quick
and powerful. My Word is quick and powerful.
It's piercing. It's searching. It's killing. It's making alive the Word of
God, the power of it, because it's a man's voice. That's why. It's not a letter. It's not words on paper, but
it's his voice when he by the Spirit uses it. How do we know
it's the Word of God? The purity of it. It's called
the holy Word. He said in Proverbs 8, he says,
there's nothing perverse in my Word. Pure. Holy. The books of men. I like to read, you know, but
I have a hard time finding any books that don't start out immediately
blaspheming God or something. Taking God's name. I just picked
up some kind of book to read it, and the first line is, God
this and God that, and I put it back. And then it's full of
trash. You know how it is. This is not. It's pure. Pure Word of God. Holy. Holy. Holy. Purity. His voice is pure. The truth of it. How do we know
it's the Word of God? The truth. This is the way. There
is no other way. This is the truth. There is no
other truth. This is life. See, it's Christ. The truth of it. The truth is
in Him. The scope of it. We know it's
the Word of God because it tells us about eternity past, long
before the world began. And it tells us what lies in
the eternal future. The scope of it. Oh, my. The
books of history, we have books of history that are not too old. I mean, we can only trace history
back so far and people are guessing, aren't they? But this one, oh
my, from eternity past to eternity future, the scope of it, from
creation to recreation, the beauty of it. How do we know it's God's
Word? The beauty of it. The beauty of it. Prose. Men
sit and listen to men read poetry and prose and they ooh and ahh
and it's trash. It's Shakespeare. Sorry. No, I'm not either. They treat
him like a god. He's not. And they treat God's
Word like nothing. They esteem Shakespeare more
than they do Jesus Christ. And that's a fact. You know it's
a fact. Oh, no one has written prose like David. No one has
written poetry or song like David. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hill from which cometh my Lord, my help. Oh, the prose
of it, the beauty of it, the poetry of it, the stories of
it. All truth. No fiction. All truth. The greatest
love stories ever told. Where can you find a greater
love story than the book of Ruth? Where can you find a greater
love story or a greater story than the book of Esther? It makes
you want to hear it again, doesn't it? Just to hear the title, Esther. Oh, my. My, my, my. The beauty of it. The relevance
of it. The relevance of it. This book
is relevant from the laborer in the ditch to the lawyer in
his office, to the dishwasher in the kitchen, to the doctor
in the hospital. They both need it. They all need
it. This is for the first century? Things sure are different. Were
different back then than they are now. No, they're not. Just
dress a little different. Different modes of transportation.
But it's still the same. We have the same need from the
first century to the last century. The relevance of it and the subject
of it. How do we know this is God's
Word? The subject of it. Oh, man. This is about the altogether
lovely Son of God. Pictures, types, shadows, symbols,
things that represent the coming Son of God. In the Old Testament,
they all said someone's coming. And then in the Gospels they
said, here it is. Here he is, the one we've been
waiting for. And the epistles say, and the revelation, he's
coming again. It's all about him. That's how
we know it's God's book, because it's about God's Son. And then
the preservation of it. And so much else could be said,
but the preservation of it. And I've already told you something
about that, how the Lord has preserved it down through time. And I'm so thankful that we have
it. Aren't you? We're so blessed
to read it. Isn't it a blessing just to hear
it read? Isn't it a blessing just to read it? God's given
some men in here a gift to read, and it's a blessing just to hear
them read it. And to read it yourself, that
you have the blessed Word of God. This is why God wrote this
book, is so that you could have it to go to at any time. Any time. Thank God for it. Blessed is he that readeth, blessed
are those that hear it, and blessed is he or she that keepeth the
sayings of this book. Stand with me. Our Lord, words are not sufficient
to give thanks for your blessed book, of your blessed Son, that
you've given to your people that are so blessed to have it. Lord,
thank You. Thank You. Thank You. And truly,
may this serve to glorify You, the author of this blessed book,
the great salvation author and the finisher of it, and give
us a greater appreciation for it and a desire and a hunger
and a thirst for it. Lord, if we do desire it, increase
our desire. May we be like babes desiring
Sincere milk, Lord, cause us to grow in it. Lord, like David
of old, we esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right.
Let God be true in every man and liar, and we hate every false
way. Lord, keep us cleaving to Your
Word, Your truth, mercy and truth that You've given us through
Thy words. In Christ's name, we've met here
tonight. Amen. Thank you very much.